h 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 

Received        JAN    12    1893     _  jgp 
zAccessions  No.  liciaa  I    .  Class  No. 


/'/-      ^-/r  u^a^  /.,c 


Practical  JParm 
Chemistry. 


A   HANDBOOK  OF 

PROFITABLE  CROP  FEEDING. 


Part  I.— The  Raw  Materials  of  Plant  Food. 
Part  II. — The  Available  Sources  of  Supply. 

Part  III. — Principles  of  Economic  Application,  or 
Manuring  for  Money. 


BY 

T.  GREINER,  La  Salle,  N.  Y. 

Author  "How  To  Make  The  Garden  Pay,"  "The  New 
Onion  Culture,"  Etc. 


ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


I7BRSIT' 

"  1891, 


4^C|^/ 


COPYRIGHTED,  1891. 
BY  T.  QREINER,  LA  SALLE,  N.  Y. 


HAAS  A  KLEIN,    PRINTERS, 

SENECA  STREET,  CORNER  TERRACE, 

BUFFALO,  N.   Y. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction, 


Page. 

7 


PART  L—The  Baw  Materials  of  Plant  Food. 

First  Chapter— Matter  and  its  Forms,         -           -           -  13 

Second  Chapter — The  Organic  Elements,           -           -  17 

Third  Chapter— Carbon,  Its  Nature  and  Action,    -           -  19 

Fourth  Chapter — Oxygen  and  How  it  Acts,      -           -  24 

Fifth  Chapter— Nitrogen,  Its  Nature  and  Effect,  -           -  26 

Sixth  Chapter — Acids,  Alkalies  and  Salts,          -           -  30 
Seventh  Chapter — The  Mineral  Plant  Constituents:  Lime, 

Salt,  Sulphur,  Soda,  Magnesia  and  Silicon,           -           -  36 
Eighth  Chapter — The  Mineral  Plant  Constituents:    Phos- 
phorus and  Potassium,               ...           -  43 
Ninth  Chapter — Chemical  Symbols,  Formulas  and  Atomic 

Weights, 47 

PART  II.— The  Available  Sources  of  Supply. 

Tenth  Chapter — What  Our  Soils  are  Made  of,         -  55 
Eleventh  Chapter — The  Soil  as  Cheapest  Source  of  Plant 

Food, 61 

Twelfth  Chapter — The  Essential  Plant  Foods  and  their 

Trade  Values,  .-.--.  65 
Thirteenth  Chapter— The  Worth  of  Domestic  Manure,  70 
Fourteenth  Chapter — Value  of  other  Domestic  Manures,  78 
Fifteenth  Chapter — The  Concentrated  Complete  Man- 
ures, ._.----  84 
Sixteenth  Chapter— Where  can  we  get  our  Nitrogen  ?      -  93 


Vi  CONTENTS  CONTINUED. 

Page. 

Seventeenth  Chapter — Our  Sources  of  Phosphoric  Acid,  103 

Eighteenth  Chapter— Our  Sources  of  Potash,       -           -  113 

Nineteenth  Chapter — Muck  and  Its  Possibilities,        -  118 

Twentieth  Chapter — Flesh  and  Fish  Composts,     -           -  122 

Twenty-First  Chapter— Table  of  Analytes  and  Valuations,  125 


PART  III. — Principles  of  Economic  Application. 

Twenty-Second  Chapter— The  Needs  of  Soil  and  Crop,         129 

Twenty-Third  Chapter — Clover  and  other  Plants  as  Man- 
ure Crops,  ..-.-.        135 

Twenty-Fourth  Chapter — Plant  Foods  Needed  in  Ordin- 
ary Crop  Rotation,         -  -  -  -  -  141 

Twenty-Fifth  Chapter — Feeding  our  Fruit  and  Veget- 
able Crops,  ......  145 

Twenty-Sixth    Chapter— Manures  for  Farm  and  Market 

Gardens,  _..._.  150 

Twenty- Seventh  Chapter — Fertilizers  for  Mucky  Soils,         155 
Twenty-Eighth  Chapter— Tests  of  Soil  Fertility,        -  158 

Twenty-Ninth  Chapter— Some  Leading  Principles.  -        161 


I  3sr  ID  E  25: 


A  cid  phosphate, 


Page, 
110 


Acids,  -  -  -  30 
Accumulation   of    Mineral 

Plant  Foods  in  Gardens,  150 

Alkalies.  -  -  -  31 
Ammonia,           -            27,  31,  98 

Ammonia  Catchers.             -  28 

Ammonia  in  the  Soil,  -  28 

Analyses  -  -  -  125 
Analyses     of    Experiment 

Stations,    -           -           -  89 

Apatite,             -           -  111 

Ashes,          -           -           -  117 

Ashes,  Canada,             -  80 

Ashes,  Coal,            -           -  81 

Ashes,  Cotton  Seed  Hull,  81 

Ashes  for  Muck,      -            -  156 

Ashes,  Leached  Wood,  79 

Ashes,  Unleached  Wood,    -  78 

Atomic  Weights,          -  51 


Darnyard  Manure, 

Blue  Stone, 
BJood,  Dried, 
Bone  Black, 
Bones,  Composition, 


70 

35 

101 
105 
103 


Bones,  Home  Treatment  of,     107 
Bones,    Treatment    of,   for 
Fertilizer,  -  -    104 

(^alcium  Oxide,  -  31 

Carbon,        -  -  17,  19 

Carbon  JSeeded  in  the  Soil,  22 
Carbonate  of  Ammonia,  -  35 
Carbonate  of  Copper,  35,  42 

Carbonate  of  Lime,  -      33 

Carbonate  of  Potash,    -  34 

Carbonate  of  Soda,  -      33 

Carbonic  Acid,        -  19,  30 

Carcass  of  Horse,  Utilizing,  122 
Carcass  of  Horse,  Value  of.  122 
Castor  Pomace,        -  -      99 

Changes,  Chemical,      -  14 

Changes  of  Form,    -  -      13 

€harcoal  Absorbing  Gases,  21 
Chili  Saltpetre.        -  -      29 

Chloride  of  Potash,       -  35 

Chloride  of  Sodium,  -      32 

Chlorine,  -  -       40,  92 

€loset  Contents,      -  -      83 

Clover  and  Peas  as  Manure 
Crops,       -  -  -    139 


Pagre. 
Clover  as  Accumulator  of 

Available  Plant  Food.    -  136 

Clover  as  Source  of  Carbon,  137 
Clover,   Demands    of,    for 

Plant  Food,         -  "         -  135 

Combustion,      -           -  25 

Composition  of  Matter,  -  13 
Compounds,      Double,    or 

Salts,              -           .  33 

Compounds,  Simple.          -  30 

Copperas,  Blue,  -  35 
Copperas,  Green,          -       35,  41 

Cotton  Seed  Meal,               -  98 

Cotton  Seed  Hull  Ashes,  81 


Clements,  The. 

Elements,  the  Organic, 
Epsom  Salts, 

Certilizers,  Concentrated, 
*       or  Commercial, 


15 

17 
34 


84 


Fertilizer  Analyses  as  Safe- 
guard 8  against  Imposition ,  87 
Fertilizers  for  Muck  Soil,  157 
Fertilizers,  High-grade  vs. 

Low,         -           -           -  85 
Fertilizers,  Value  of,           87,  90 

Fish  Compost,         -           -  124 

Fish,  Dry  Ground,       -  101 

Fish  Scraps,             -           -  112 

Flesh,  Dried,     -           -  101 

Flesh  Compost,        -            -  128 

Florida  Rock.               -  110 

Fruit  Crops,  Manures  for,  147 


/^as  Lime,  Composition, 

Grain  Crops,  Plant  Foods 

for. 
Guano, 
Gypsum, 


38 


130 

111 

34 


Uorn  and  Hoof  Waste,  102 

Horse  Manure.  -       71,72 

Hydro-chloric  Acid,  31 

Hydrogen  as  Element,  18 

Iron  Vitriol,    See  Copperas 
*     Green,     .  -  - 


K"' 


ainit. 


115 


INDEX  CONTINUED. 


1  and  Plaster, 

Lime, 
Linseed  Meal, 


M 


arls.  Green  Sand, 


Page. 

-  34 

31,36 

-  99 

117 


Mineral  Green,        -  -      35 

Muck  Lands,  Minerals  for,  155 
Muck  as  Source  of  Nitrogen,  119 
Muck  Compost,       -  -    120 

Muriate  of  Potash,  35,  114 

Muriatic  Acid,         -  -      31 

lUeutral  Substances,  31 

Nitrate  of  Lime,      -  -      34 

Nitrate  of  Lime  and  Mag- 
nesia, -  -  -  29 
Nitrate  of  Potash,  -  34,  97 
Nitrate  of  Soda,  -  29,  34 
Nitrate  of  Soda  in  Garden,  152 
Nitrate  of  Soda  Sowing,  -  153 
Nitrate  of  Soda,  Where  Ob- 
tained, -  -  -  96 
Nitrate    of    Soda    Test  of 

Purity,      -  -  -      96 

Nitric  Acid,      -  -       28,  30 

Nitric  Acid  Compounds,  -  29 
Nitrogen,  -  -       18,  26 

Nitrogen  and  Ammonia,  -  65 
Nitrogen  and  Oxygen,  -  25 

Nitrogen  for  Garden  Crops,  151 
Nitrogen  from  the  Air,  -  94 
Nitrogen  in  Muck,        -  119 


Qxygen  Compounds 

Oxygen  Elementary,  - 
Oxygen  for  Respiration, 
Oxygen  of  the  Air, 


24 

17 
25 
25 


P 


lant    Foods    for    Grain,     130 


Plant  Food  for  5-yeAr  Crop 

Rotation,  -           -           -  143 

Potash,  -            -           -  81 
Potash,    Carbonate    of,   or 

Pearl  Ash,            -           -  84 

Potash  for  Vegetable  Crops,  149 

Potash  Salts,  Where  Found,  113 

Potassium  Compounds,      -  46 

Potassium  Oxide,         -  31 
Phosphate  of  Lime,             34,  44 


Page. 
Phosphate  Rock.     -  -     109 

Phosphates.       -  -  44 

Phosphates  for  Grain  Crops,    132 
Phosphoric  Acid,  30,  43,  45 

Poultry  Manure,  -      76 

Prices  of  Plant  Foods,        67,  69 
Principles,  Leading,  161 


p  otation  of  Manures, 
Rubbish  Roast, 


.    134 

-      82 

82,  39 


gait,     -  - 

Salts,  -  -  -      33 

Saltpetre,  -  29,  97,  117 

Schedule  of  Trade  Values,  67,  69 
Silicates,       -  -  -      42 

Slag,  Basic  or  Thomas,  1 1 1 

Soda,  -  -  -      31 

Stable  Manure,  -  75 

Stable  Manure,  Measuring,  74 
Stable  Manure,  Prices  of,  -  73 
Stable  Manure,  Weedy,  163 

Soil,  Advantages  of  Rich,  -  62 
Soil  Diagnosis,  -  180 

Soil,  Plant  Foods  in,  -      61 

Soil  Test,  A  Simple,     -  57 

Soils,  Classification  of,  -  56 
Soils  in  Old  Gardens,  -  68 
Sulphate  of  Ammonia,  35,  98 
Sulphate      of      Ammonia, 

Sowing,  -  -     154 

Sulphate  of  Copper,      -  35 

Sulphate  of  Iron,  35,  41 

Sulphate  of  Lime,        -  34 

Sulphate  of  Magnesia,  -  34 
Sulphate  of  Potash,  34,  115 

Sulphur,  -  -  40 

Sulphuric  Acid,       -  81,  41 

Superphosphate,  -  45 

Symbols,  Chemical  -      48 


Tankage, 

112 

Testing  Soil  Fertility,   - 
Tobacco  Refuse,    - 

158 
-      117 

Valuations, 

125 

Water,  Composition, 

15,  31 

Wool  Waste, 

-    102 

INTRODUCTION, 


TN  YEARS  gone  by  the  farmer  had  little  use  for 
agricultural  chemistry.  The  virgin  soil  was  so 
well  supplied  with  all  the  elements  needed  for  plant 
nutrition  that  the  only  thing  for  him  to  do  was  to 
plant,  and  till,  and  reap  a  bountiful  harvest. 

Times  and  conditions  have  changed.  The  land 
does  not  respond  any  more  quite  so  promptly  to 
merely  scratching  its  back  with  plow  and  harrow. 
It  has  grown  weary  and  hungry.  It  now  looks  for 
food,  and  coaxing,  and  petting,  before  it  can  be 
made  to  smile  with  flowers,  fruits,  vegetables  and 
grains. 

The  farming  of  our  fathers  was  based  upon  the 
almost  unlimited  generosity  of  nature,  and  the 
original  wealth  of  the  soil.  The  farming  of  the 
present  day  is  changing  more  and  more  to  a  process 
of  manufacturing  crops  out  of  raw  materials  large- 
ly supplied  by  man.  The  soil  only  serves  us  as  a 
medium  and  implement  of  manufacture. 

We  find  ourselves  burdened  with  duties  not  im- 


8  PKACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

posed  upon  our  fathers.  The  foremost  and  most 
formidable  task  which  confronts  us,  is  that  of  find- 
ing and  providing  the  raw  materials  required  for 
the  manufacture  of  the  crops  which  we  wish  to 
produce,  and  this,  too,  at  prices  that  will  leave  us 
a  fair  profit. 

These  raw  materials  are  expensive.  If  we  pur- 
chase them  carelessly,  and  apply  them  indiscrimin- 
ately or  injudiciously,  we  are  apt  to  find  ourselves 
the  losers  in  the  transaction.  Here  agricultural 
chemistry  comes  to  our  aid  in  solving  many  of  the 
problems  concerning  the  needs  of  our  crops,  the 
nature  and  value  of  the  raw  materials,  and  their 
economical  application. 

While  every  good  farmer  should  familiarize  him- 
self with  these  cardinal  points,  he  has  no  need  to 
be  a  chemist.  He  looks  at  this  science  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  practical  soil  tiller,  not  from  that 
of  the  professional  man  of  retorts  and  the  laboratory. 

I  have  studied  the  problems  here  involved  from 
this  same  practical  point  of  view;  yet  what  I  do  not 
know  about  chemistry  would  fill  large  volumes. 
Such  a  confession  at  the  very  beginning  is  needed, 
not  only  to  shield  myself  against  the  assumption  of 
undue  responsibility,  but  also  to  serve  as  a  warning 
for  the  reader  against  extravagant  expectations. 

The  professional  chemist  rarely  knows  how  to 
grow  a  single  farm  crop  successfully  and  profitably; 
yet,  the  success  of  modern  farming  depends  in  a 
large  measure  on  the  proper  application  of  know- 
ledge developed  by  the  experiments  in  the  labora- 
tory. The  chemist  can  tell  us  the  exact  quantities 
of  the  various  elements  which  constitute  a  plant,  or 
a  grain,  or  a  fruit.  He  can  also  tell  us  how  much 
of  each  of  these  elements  or  substances  is  contained 


IISrTRODUCTIOK.  9 

in  a  cubic  foot  of  soil.  But  we  must  not  imagine 
that  in  order  to  be  able  to  secure  a  certain  yield  of 
any  crop,  it  would  only  be  necessary  to  ascertain  by 
analysis  the  exact  amount  of  plant  food  in  the  soil, 
and  to  supply  the  deficiency  of  the  substances 
needed  to  bring  the  aggregate  amount  in  the  soil 
up  to  that  required  in  the  production  of  the  intend- 
ed crop.  The  subtle  ways  and  agencies  of  nature, 
the  action  of  soil  and  life  forces  and  forms  in  it 
baffle  the  skill  of  the  chemist,  and  force  him  to  con- 
fess that  he  has  reached  the  end  of  his  wisdom. 

Where  chemistry  fails  to  acquaint  us  with  the 
causes,  from  which  we  might  expect  certain  results, 
the  experimenter  must  step  in,  observe  the  results, 
and  try  to  ascertain  the  causes  in  his  way .  The 
chemist' s  analysis  and  the  farmer' s  tests — these  are 
indispensable  requisites  of  modern  husbandry,  and 
the  corner  stones  of  success  in  profitable  crop  feeding. 
No  farmer  can  select  and  purchase  fertilizers  with 
proper  regard  to  economy  and  fitness,  or  apply 
manures  intelligently,  unless  he  has  some  under- 
standing of  the  principles  that  govern  plant  growth, 
of  the  various  elements  of  plant  food,  their  action 
and  their  values. 

The  study  of  these  problems  has  been  a  source  of 
much  satisfaction  and  profit  to  me.  I  believe  it 
would  also  be  so  to  other  farmers  and  farmers'  boys, 
who  in  this  era  of  low  prices  and  "  agricultural  de- 
pression" are  trying  hard  to  learn  how,  by  the  use 
of  improved  methods,  farming  may  be  made  to 
yield  fair  returns  for  the  labor  and  capital  invested. 
I  am  sure  the  task  will  be  materially  lightened  by  a 
thorough  understanding  of  the  principles  here  in- 
volved. 

These  considerations  have  lead  me  to  attempt. 


10  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

in  the  following  pages,  an  explanation  of  the  truths 
as  they  were  revealed  to  me,  and  this  in  simple 
language  that  all  can  understand.  I  have  tried  to 
treat  the  matter  in  such  a  way  that  it  will  interest 
and  instruct  the  young  men,  and  help  them  to  be- 
come successful  farmers . 

THE  AUTHOR. 
La  Salle,  N.  Y.,  Spring,  1891. 


PART  I. 

THE    RAW    MATERIALS 

OF 

PLANT    FOOD. 


FIRST  CHAPTER. 


MATTER  AND  ITS  FORMS. 


T^HE  first  question  that  the  inquisitive  student  is 
most  likely  to  ask,  concerns  the  composition 
of  matter.  Of  what  substances  are  the  plants,  the 
animals  and  all  other  earthly  things,  live  or  dead, 
composed?  What  is  water,  what  earth,  what  rock, 
what  air  ? 

Suppose  we  dip  up  a  quart  of  liquid  manure  in 
the  barn-yard  and  empty  it  upon  the  ground  in  the 
garden.     It  soaks  in  and  disappears  from  view,  but 
its  every  part  remains  in  existence  all  the  same. 
While  passing  downward  through  the  soil,  some  of 
the  ingredients  that  are  held  in  solution,  forming 
with  the  water  a  most  intimate  mechani- 
^^Fom  °^  ^^^  mixture,  and  giving  it  color,  are  filter- 
ed out  and   retained  in  the   soil.      The 
liquid  that  reaches  the  subsoil  is  comparatively  free 
from  the  foreign  substances  that  were  held  only  in 
solution,  and  now  consists  of  little  more  than  pure 
water.     This  may  pass  into  underground  veins,  and 
bubble  up  again,  far  remote,  in  a  spring  or  well. 


14  PEACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

Exposed  to  frost,  it  will  turn  into  ice,  and  assume 
the  solid  form.  We  may  put  a  piece  of  ice  into  a 
vessel  on  a  liot  stove.  It  will  melt  and  form  water; 
and  this  we  can  boil  away,  until  the  vessel  is  empty. 
Still  we  have  not  annihilated  the  water  by  driving 
it  out  of  the  vessel.  In  a  new  form,  that  of  steam, 
it  is  floating  in  the  air,  occupying  a  space  1,700 
times  as  large  as  it  did  in  the  form  of  water.  In 
time,  this  steam  or  gaseous  water  again  condenses 
and  becomes  liquid,  and  under  still  lower  tempera- 
ture, turns  to  ice. 

Here  we  have  observed  a  number  of  changes,  but 
all  these  were  merely  changes  of  form  or  condition, 
not  of  chemical  composition.  Water  changes  its 
forms  on  slight  provocation,  but  whether  gas,  liquid 
or  solid,  it  is  chemically  the  same  thing — water. 

There  are  other  changes,  however,  more  violent, 
more  thorough,  and  often  more  permanent  than 
those  just  mentioned.  These  are  chemical  changes, 
and  I  can  give  no  better  illustration  than  by  com- 
paring them  to  the  changes  which  the  youngster 
makes  with  his  building  blocks.  He  puts  up  a 
structure  of  some  sort;  then  tears  it  down  again, 
and  uses  the  same  material,  re-arranged,  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  building  perhaps  altogether  different. 

Water  is  not  a  simple  substance,  or  element,  as 
supposed  by  the  old  school  of  philosophers  who 
named  water,  air,  earth  and  fire  as  the  four  elemen- 
tary bodies.  By  passing  an  electric  current  through 
it,  and  by  various  other  means,  we  have  it  in  our 
power  to  decompose  a  quantity  of  water; 
chaMM^  that  is,  sever  the  intimate  connection  be- 
tween its  two  constituents — hydrogen  and 
oxygen.  These  are  two  gaseous  bodies  which 
occupy  still  more  room  than  steam,  so  that  a  few 


THE    ELEMENTS.  15 

drops  of  water,  separated  into  their  two  elements, 
would  give  us  two  quarts  of  hydrogen  and  one  quart 
of  oxygen.  They  may  be  caught  and  kept  confined 
in  a  tight  glass  vessel  in  this  form  as  long  as  you 
please.  Without  outside  impulse  they  will  not 
combine  chemically,  but  remain  a  mixture  of  gases. 
When  ignited,  however,  the  two  substances  rush 
into  each  other' s  arms  as  in  a  sudden  passion.  We 
have  a  violent  explosion,  a  chemical  combination, 
and  as  a  result,  two  quarts  of  steam,  which  when 
condensed,  again  appears  as  the  few  drops  of  water 
with  which  we  started. 

In  oxygen  and  hydrogen  we  have  two  elementary 
bodies,  or  simple  substances  which  cannot  be  fur- 
ther separated  into  other  substances.  Modern 
chemistry  knows  between  sixty  and  seventy  such 
elements;  and  all  existing  matter,  whether  organic 
(matter  which  has  performed  functions  of  life,  or  is 
the  result  of  such  functions)  or  inorganic  (anything 
which  is  and  has  been  without  life,  and  is  not  the 
result  of  functions  of  life),  is  made  up  of  these 
elements,  in  various  proportions,  and  in  all  sorts  of 
combinations,  which  give  us  the  diversified  and  in- 
numerable forms  of  matter. 

The  farmer  is  most  deeply  interested  in  a  know- 
ledge of  the  elements  which  go  to  make  up  vegetable 
and  animal  products,  and  it  is  a  wonderful  fact, 
that  of  those  nearly  seventy  elementary  bodies, 
only  twelve  or  fourteen  are  of  sufficient  importance 
to  deserve  the  farmer's  consideration,  and  that  the 
g^^^^  bulk  of  all  agricultural  pro- 
ducts consists  of  the  four  elements, 
carbon,  hydrogen,  oxygen  and  nitrogen.  These 
are  the  organic  constituents  of  plants;  all  others  are 
inorganic  elements,  and  consist  chiefly  of  calcium. 


16  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

chlorine,  magnesium,  phosphorus,  potassium,  sili- 
con, sodium  and  sulphur.  Here  we  have  all  the  raw 
materials  that  enter  into  the  structure  of  plants  and 
animals.  The  husbandman,  as  manufacturer  of 
grain,  fruits,  etc.,  will  find  a  thorough  acquaintance 
not  only  with  the  machinery  of  nature  which  fur- 
nishes him  the  motive  power,  but  also  with  the 
various  raw  materials  of  which  he  has  to  construct 
his  products,  fully  as  indispensable  to  highest  suc- 
cess as  the  acquaintance  with  the  various  grades  of 
saccharine  substances,  with  the  dye  stuffs  and 
flavoring  extracts,  is  for  the  manufacturer  of  cane  y. 
He  must  learn  their  nature,  peculiarities  and  modeb 
of  operation. 


SECOND  CHAPTER, 


THE  ORGANIC   ELEMENTS. 


i^F  THE  four  elements  which  constitute  the  bulk 
^^  of  vegetable  substances,  and  which  are  torn 
away  from  this  combination  and  allowed  to  escape 
into  the  air  by  exposure  to  heat  (rapid  combustion, 
or  burning),  carbon  deserves  to  be  named 
first,  as  it  forms  nearly  one- half,  by 
weight,  of  all  the  dry  substance  of  our  farm  crops. 
In  charcoal  we  have  the  most  common  and  best 
known,  though  an  impure  form  of  carbon.  Other 
organic  forms  of  this  element  are  soot,  lamp-black, 
etc. ,  and  in  an  inorganic  condition  it  appears  in  the 
diamond,  which  is  pure  carbon,  in  graphite,  petro- 
leum, etc. 

Oxygen  forms  about  one-third,  by  weight,  of  the 
dry  substance  of  vegetable  matter.  It  is  a  most  re- 
markable, ever-present,  gaseous  body,  responsible 
for  the  great  changes  that  occur,  and  especially 
powerful  in  destroying.  We  may  call  it 
^^^*°'  omnivorous  (all  devouring),  as  it  is 
always  ready  to  pounce  upon  and  combine  with 
other  substances,  tearing  them  away  from  other  affil- 
iations, and  thus  ever  changing  their  forms  and 
conditions.  It  has  a  particular  appetite  for  carbon 
and  other  combustible  substances,  and  when  once 


18  PRACTICAL  FARM  CHEMISTRY. 

given  a  good  opportunity  by  exposure  to  heat,  will 
seize  and  devour  them  in  fiery  embrace.  This  pro- 
cess  in  everyday  life  is  termed  burning. 

Oxygen  also  destroys  vegetable  and  other  sub- 
stances in  a  slower  way,  under  a  rise  of  temperature 
so  slight  that  it  generally  escapes  our  notice.  This 
slow  combustion  (oxidation,  burning)  is  commonly 
called  decaying,  rotting  or  rusting.  But  whether 
rapid  with  fire  and  flame,  or  so  slow  as  to  be  hardly 
perceptible,  this  decomposition  is  the  result  of  the 
same  element  and  of  the  same  process — a  chemical 
union  with  oxygen. 

Hydrogen — "trifles  lighter  than  air,"  in  fact,  the 
lightest  known  substance — forms  only  a  little  more 
than  one  twentieth  part  of  the  dry  substance  of 
plants.  This  gas,  like  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  has 
neither  taste,  smell  nor  color,  but  un- 
y  ogen.  j.j^^  them,  is  very  inflammable.  Burnt 
hydrogen  (hydrogen  combined  with  oxygen  in  the 
proportion  of  one  pound  of  the  former  to  eight 
pounds  of  the  latter)  is  the  common  liquid  we  call 
water.  Combined  with  carbon  we  find  this  gas  in 
the  common  coal  gas,  used  for  illuminaf ing  purposes^ 
in  petroleum,  etc. 

Nitrogen,  although  forming  four  fifths  of  the 
atmosphere,  where  it  exists  in  mixture  (not  in  com- 
bination) with  oxygen,  and  entering  still  more 
lightly  into  the  composition  of  plant 
substance  than  does  hydrogen,  deserves 
the  study  and  attention  of  the  farmer  even  more 
than  the  three  elements  already  named,  for  it  is  not 
available  as  plant  food  in  its  simple  form,  and  not 
so  easily  or  cheaply  obtained  in  the  desired  com- 
binations as  other  elements  of  plant  food. 


THIRD  CHAPTER. 


CARBON,  ITS  NATURE  AND  ACTION. 


'T'HE  action  and  influence  of  these  various  elemen- 
tary  bodies  upon  each  other,  and  upon  other 
substances,  are  a  fit  subject  for  further  consideration. 
In  charcoal,  as  already  said,  we  have  a  simple  but 
impure  form  of  carbon.  From  the  fact  that  carbon 
forms  nearly  one-half,  by  weight,  of  the  dry  matter 
of  all  plant  products,  it  would  be  but  natural  to 
suppose  that  charcoal  would  be  one  of  the  most 
effective  plant  foods,  and  the  most  important  ingre- 
dient in  fertilizers.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case. 
Carbon  is  entirely  insoluble  in  water.  Air,  under 
common  temperature,  does  not  effect  it. 

We  might  grind  charcoal  ever  so  fine,  and  put  it 
ever  so  close  to  the  roots  of  plants;  these  latter 
could  not  possibly  take  it  up  into  their  circulation. 
Now  let  us  take  this  charcoal  (or  dry  wood,  or  any 
other  substance  containing  carbon)  and  put  it  upon 

live  coals  in  the  stove.      The  draft    in 
^  AciT'^     front  admits  air  freely,  and  the  oxygen 

of  this  air  rushes  upon  the  carbon  and 
devours  it;  that  is,  combines  chemically  with  it, 
forming  the  gaseous  compound  "carbonic  acid." 
This  escapes  through  the  chimney,  and  is  diffused 
through  the  atmosphere.     It  is  a  colorless  gas  with 


20  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

an  acid  taste  and  smell,  and  considerably  heavier 
than  common  air. 

Now,  while  thousands  of  stoves  and  furnaces  and 
lamps  are  pumping  carbonic  acid  into  the  air  with- 
out cessation;  while  a  stream  of  the  same  gas  issues 
from  every  pair  of  lungs  (the  process  of  life  is  only 
a  combustion  of  carbonaceous  matter);  while  decay- 
ing vegetable  and  animal  substances  also  give  forth 
quantities  of  the  gas;  the  atmosphere,  which 
naturally  contains  one  part  of  it  in  each  2,500  parts 
of  the  oxygen-nitrogen  mixture  called  air,  would 
soon  become  overcharged  with  it,  and  unfit  to  sus- 
tain animal  and  even  plant  life,  if  no  provision  were 
made  by  nature  for  just  this  emergency.  But  plants 
and  trees  must  have  carbon,  and  are  hungry  for  it. 
So  they  set  their  traps  all  over  the 

^Carbonic  Acid?^  ^^^^  *^  catch  this  substance  as  it 
is  floating  in  the  air.  The  leaves 
and  even  the  stems  of  plants  are  full  of  pores,  and 
through  these  the  carbonic  acid  gas  is  absorbed  and 
brought  into  circulation  in  the  sap,  where  it  under- 
goes chemical  changes,  and  is  manufactured  into 
starch,  sugar,  plant  fibre,  etc.,  all  of  which  sub- 
stances are  largely  or  chiefly  composed  of  carbon. 
The  carbon  is  retained,  while  the  oxygen  is  again 
exhaled;  and  the  right  proportion  between  the  gases 
— the  proper  balance  in  the  atmosphere — is  thus 
maintained. 

While  plants  and  trees  thus  obtain  a  large  portion 
of  their  carbon  from  the  vast  and  unceasingly  re- 
newed stores  in  the  atmosphere,  the  roots  also 
absorb  more  or  less  of  it  from  the  soil.  Carbon,  in 
its  simple  or  elementary  form,  is  insoluable  in  water, 
and  oxygen  is  only  soluble  to  a  very  small  extent. 
Their  compound,    "carbonic  acid,"    however,   dis- 


CHARCOAL   ABSORBING   GASES.  21 

solves  very  readily  in  water.  By  absorption  from 
the  atmosphere,  by  the  decay  of  organic  substances 
in  the  soil,  etc.,  it  finds  its  way  into  the  soil  water, 
and  with  it  into  the  plant.  Besides  this  direct  use- 
fulness as  plant  food,  it  has  the  indirect  value  of 
giving  to  the  water  which  holds  it  in  solution  an 
increased  power  of  dissolving  other  mineral  sub- 
stances, and  of  those  making  them  available  for 
plant  food. 

Although  it  is  true  that  charcoal,  being  insoluable 
in  water,  can  not  directly  enter  into  the  circulation 
of  plant  sap,  and  that  plants  can  depend  upon  the 
atmosphere  for  almost  the  whole  of  their  carbon 
supply,  if  neccessary;  yet  the  application  of  pulver- 
ized charcoal,  or  other  finely- divided  carbon  in  its 
elementary  form,  shows  often  remarkable  effects 
upon  plant  growth.  This  is  to  be  explained  otherwise 
than  on  the  theory  that  the  elementary  carbon  can 
be  utilized  as  plant  food.  Charcoal  might  be  re- 
garded as  the  skeleton  of  the  wood  from  which  it 
was  prepared.  A  large  portion  of  the  substance  of 
the  wood  has  been  driven  off  by  heat,  but  the  form, 

the  structure,  still  remains,  and  con- 
Ab8orbine*Ga8eB.  sequently  the  charcoal  skeleton    is 

exceedingly  porous.  Like  other 
porous  substances,  it  possesses  the  power  of  absorb- 
ing and  condensing  gases.  Hop  growers  know 
what  a  large  bulk  of  dried  hops  can  be  condensed 
into  the  space  of  a  bale  by  means  of  a  good  hop- 
press;  but  a  hop-press  is  next  to  powerless  when 
you  compare  it  with  charcoal.  This  substance  will 
absorb  and  condense  in  itself  ninety  times  its  own 
bulk  of  ammonia,  thirty-five  times  its  bulk  of  car- 
bonic acid,  and  other  gases  proportionately.  It 
catches  plant  foods,  and  brings  and  holds  them  for 


22  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

the  use  of  vegetation.  The  precious  but  volatile 
ammonia  is  not  only  held,  but  brought  in  immediate 
contact  with  oxygen,  all  condensed  in  the  charcoal 
pores,  and  changed  into  the  stable  nitric  acid,  etc. 
This  power  of  absorbing  and  condensing  gases  gives 
charcoal,  also,  its  great  value  as  a  disinfectant  and 
deodorizer. 

New  soils  generally  have  an  abundance  of  carbo- 
naceous matter— the  decomposed  remains  of  veget- 
able productions,  leaf  mould,  humus,  peat,  veget- 
able mould — as  this  always  accumulates  in  forests, 
pastures  and  swamps.  Various  acids,  such  as 
ulmic,  humic,  etc.,  contained  in  these  substances, 
are  merely  carbonic  acid  yet  in  process  of  prepara- 
tion, or  unfinished.  Carbon  of  the  vegetable  matter 
combines  with  a  little  oxygen  and  forms  ulmic  acid; 
this  combines  with  a  little  more  oxygen  and-  forms 
humic  acid;  this  again  combines  with  more  oxygen, 
and  forms  geic  acid,  and  so  on  through  several  more 
steps  until  the  final  result,  carbonic  acid  is  reached. 
All  these  combinations  of  carbon  with  oxygen, 
under  certain  conditions,  can  serve  as  food  for 
plants,  while  the  constant  absorption  of  oxgen  also 
favors  the  production  of  nitrogen  compounds. 

By  constant  cropping,   without    application    of 

bulky  manures,  the  carbonaceous  matter  in  the  soil 

becomes  exhausted.     The  process  of  oxidation,  or 

decay,  stops,  since  there  is  no  material  to  work  on. 

The  production    of    carbonic   acid 

^*in^the^^u.*^  ceases,  and  with  it  the  supply  of  a 
most  important  plant  food  to  the 
roots.  The  soil  water  loses  part  of  its  solvent  power. 
The  conversion  of  nitrogenous  matter  into  ammonia 
and  nitric  acid  (in  which  forms  alone  nitrogen  can 
be  taken  up  by  plants)  also  comes  to  an  end.     In 


CARBON    IN   THE   SOIL.  23 

short,  the  soil  has  become  dead.  It  hardens,  closes 
its  pores,  and  no  further  produces  profitable  crops. 
These,  indeed,  are  dire  results  of  the  exhaustion  of 
carbonaceous  matter. 

Nature  has  a  remedy,  when  man  does  not  inter- 
fere. Weeds,  shrubs,  trees  spring  up,  catch  the 
carbon  floating  in  the  air,  and  by  their  decay  deposit 
carbonaceous  matter  on  top  of  the  soil  (leaf  mould, 
humus),  and  thus  in  the  course  of  many  years  fur- 
nish a  new  supply.  The  natural  process  of  recuper- 
ation is  a  lengthy  and  tedious  one.  The  soil  tiller 
can  hasten  it,  and  restore  life  and  activity  to  the 
soil  by  the  reintroduction  of  abundant  carbonaceous 
matter;  in  other  words,  by  application  of  stable 
manure  or  peaty  substances,  or  by  plowing  under 
crops,  such  as  clover,  southern  black  peas  (cow 
beans),  lupines,  weeds,  etc. 

On  the  whole  I  think  that  carbon  occupies  a  posi- 
tion of  greater  importance  in  the  economy  of  plant 
growth  and  profitable  plant  feeding  than  is  assigned 
to  it  by  a  majority  of  farm  writers,  of  high  as  well 
as  low  degree,  or  than  might  be  inferred  from  the 
fact  that  no  quotable  value  is  conceded  to  it,  or  that 
it  is  entirely  left  out  in  the  computation  of  commer- 
cial values  of  manures.  This  subject  will  be  taken 
up  again  further  on;  for  it  is  plain  that  satisfactory 
cropping  cannot  usually  be  continued  for  any  length 
of  time,  unless  the  natural  condition  of  the  soil  is 
maintained  by  restoration  of  the  consumed  vege- 
table matter  through  one  or  the  other  of  the  pro- 
cesses named. 


FOURTH  CHAPTER. 


OXYGEN  AND  HOW  IT  ACTS. 


T  N  THE  foregoing  chapter  we  have  seen  the  great 
influence  wielded  by  the  elementary  body, 
oxygen  upon  carbon.  It  transformed  the  solid  sub- 
stance into  the  gaseous  and  soluble  carbonic  acid, 
thus  fitting  the  carbon  for  plant  food.  We  have 
also  observ^ed  how  the  oxygen  unites  with  the  gas- 
eous, combustible  hydrogen,  and  condenses  with  it 
to  the  common  liquid,  water. 

This  oxygen  is  a  wonderful  element,  combining 
with  every  other  substance,  in  violent  or  slow  com- 
bustion, forming  gaseous  compounds  with  some  sub- 
stances (as  carbonic  acid  with  carbon),  liquids  with 
others  (as  water  with  hydrogen),  and  solids  with 
still  others  (as  caustic  or  fresh-burned  lime  with  the 
metal  calcium).  As  a  product  of  its  combination 
with  hydrogen,  we  have  the  harmless  compound, 
water;  with  carbon,  the  poisonous  gas,  carbonic  acid; 

with    calcium,    the    corrosive    alkali, 
CompfundB.     "  caustic    lime."     As  products  of  its 

combination  with  other  substances  we 
have  potash,  magnesia,  silica,  sulphuric  acid,  phos- 
phoric acid,  etc.  Some  of  these  are  alkalies,  others 
acids.  The  former  have  an  acrid  taste,  the  latter  a 
sour  taste,  and  all  are  corrosive,  until  neutralized 


OXYGEN   OF   THE   AIR.  25 

by  combinations  between  an  alkali  on  one  side  and 
an  acid  on  the  other.  In  short,  the  all-pervading 
oxygen  is  ever  ready  to  take  hold  of  anything  that 
conies  along,  changing  it  in  form  and  nature. 

Combustion — the  burning  and  apparent  destruc- 
tion of  any  substance — as  already  stated,  is  nothing 
more  than  its  chemical  combination  with  oxygen. 
Close  the  draft  of  a  stove  so  tight  that  no  more  air 
is  admitted  to  the  burning  material,  and  burning 
will  cease.  Oxygen  is  also  indispensable  for  respir- 
ation, as  this  is  merely  a  burning  process,  or  a  com- 
bination of  oxygen  with  carbon,  by  which  animal 
heat  is  generated,  much  in  the  same  (though  less 
violent)  way  as  heat  in  a  furnace.  Shut  off  the 
supply  of  oxygen  to  the  lungs,  and  the  animal  fire, 
called  ''life,"  comes  to  a  sudden  stop.  This  oxygen 
is  the  most  common  substance  on  earth.  Eight 
ninths  of  the  water  and  a  large  share  of  the  rocks 
and  minerals  consist  of  oxygen  in  chemical  combina- 
tion. In  the  atmosphere  we  have  it  combined, 
merely  in  mixture  with  nitrogen,  and  the  latter 
seems  to  serve  the  purpose  of  a  dilutent,  simply. 
Clear  alcohol,  when  used  as  a  beverage,  would  soon 
kill  the  hardest  drinker;  but  many  persons  who 
indulge  in  that  article,  largely  diluted,  (although  I 
would  not  dare  to  recommend  the  practice)  live  to  a 
good  old  age.  So  would  clear  oxygen  stimulate 
the  life  forces  to  excessively  hasty  action,  and  hurry 
up  the  change  of  tissue  much  faster  than  nutrition 
could  restore  it,  thus  crowding  a  number  of  years 
of  one's  life  into  one.  A  great  dilution  is  absolutely 
necessary,  and  the  diluting  medium,  nitrogen,  forms 
four  fifths  of  the  atmosphere. 


FIFTH  CHAPTER. 


NITROGEN,  ITS  NATURE  AND  EFFECT. 


a  CO  NEAR  and  yet  so  far"— that  is  what  the  soil 
^     worker  might  truly  say  of  nitrogen,  which 
to  him  is  the  most  important,  as  it  is  the  most  ex- 
pensive to  procure,  of  all  fertilizing  substances.    For 
while  it  exists  in  vast  and  unlimited  quantities, 
surrounding  our  whole  world  in  a  layer  many  miles 
in  thickness,  and  forming  such  a  large  part  of  our 
atmosphere  that  tons  and  tons  of  it  are  resting  upon 
each  acre  of  ground,  it  is  at  the  same  time  exceedingly 
shy  and  modest — a  blushing,  bashful  maiden  among 
the  elements.    It  can  only  be  won  after  hard  woo- 
ing, and  it  finds  only  few  acceptable  suitors  among 
its  "set."     It  refuses  to  be  absorbed  into  plant 
structure  in  its  single  state,  except  in  a  very  small 
way  when  dissolved  in  water  (this  ab- 
Eiementary     sorbs  only  a  little  more  than  one  per 
Not  AvaUabie.    ^^^^  ^^  i^^  bulk),  and  can  be  induced 
to  enter  plant  tissue  only  after  having 
formed  a  chemical  union  with  a  congenial  mate  or 
element.     While  the  farmer  need  not  worry  about 
a  source  of  supply,  so  far  as  oxygen  and  hydrogen 
are  concerned,  and  usually  but  little  so  far  as  carbon 


AMMONIA.  27 

is  concerned,  since  water  and  carbonic  acid,  ever- 
present,  furnish  them  in  great  abundance,  and  hold 
them  in  constant  readiness  for  the  use  of  the  plants, 
the  question,  how  to  get  hold  of  nitrogen  and  make 
it  available  for  our  crops,  is  a  serious  one. 

Nitrogen  forms  about  one  sixth  of  all  animal 
tissue,  and  enters  largely  into  the  composition  of 
plants.  Under  the  pressure  of  natural  agencies  it 
enters  chemical  unions  with  hydrogen  and  oxygen, 
and  forms  various  compounds. 

When  we  open  a  bottle  containing  the  liquid  sold 
by  grocers  and  druggists  under  the  name  "  House- 
hold Ammonia,"  a  gas  escapes  which  has  a  most 
pungent  odor,  and  an  acrid  burning  taste.  This  is 
ammonia,  a  chemical  compound  of  hydrogen  and 
nitrogen,  three  parts  by  weight  of  the  former  to 
fourteen  of  the  latter.  Water  dissolves  or  absorbs 
seven  or  eight  hundred  times  its  bulk  of  it,  and 
thus  charged,  is  put  up  in  these  bottles  and  sold  for 
cleaning  purposes. 

This  nitrogeneous  gas,  ammonia,  is  evolved  from 
all  decaying  animal  substances,  dead  bodies,  solid 
manure,  and  urine,  and  it  is  also  formed  during  the 
decay  of  vegetable  substances  in  the  soil.  In  the 
morning  after  a  cold  night,  when  stable  doors  have 
been  kept  closed  pretty  tight,  a  pungent  odor  greets 
us  on  entering  horse  and  cow  stables.  This  informs 
us  of  the  presence  of  ammonia.  The  gas  is  very 
volatile,  and  easily  escapes  into  the  air,  where  it 
may  be  decomposed,  losing  again  its  available  form, 
or  to  be  absorbed  by  moisture  and  carried  down  to 
the  soil  by  rains  or  snows  in  equal  distribution  over 
fields  and  woods  of  good  and  poor  cultivators  of  the 
soil,  and  without  inquiring  where  most  needed. 

Ammonia  being  an  alkali,  readily  combines  with 


28  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

acids,  and  this  gives  us  a  clue  how  to  catch  and  hold 
it  for  use  just  where  needed.  It  is  especially  fond 
of  sulphuric  acid,  and  whenever  the  two  meet,  they 
at  once  enter  a  close  (chemical)  union,  forming  the 
salt  "  sulphate  of  ammonia." 

This  is  the  reason,  and  a  good  one,  why  the  advice 
is  so  often  given  to  scatter  sulphate  of  lime  (gyp- 
sum or  plaster),  sulphate  of  iron  (green 

^rtchers*  copperas),  kainit,  or  other  compounds  of 
sulphuric  acid,  over  fermenting  manure 
heaps  and  in  stables.  If  followed,  it  will  result  in 
saving  most  of  the  precious  but  fleeting  gas  ammonia, 
and  holding  it  fast,  for  use  as  plant  food,  in  the 
form  of  a  solid  salt,  soluble  in  water,  but  not  vola- 
tile. The  ammonia,  formed  freely  in  the  soil' when 
decaying  vegetable  matter  is  present,  and  although 
so  exceedingly  volatile  when  free,  has  but  little 
opportunity  to  escape  into  the  air,  as 

intiieSMi.  *^^  ®^^^  water,  and  the  various ,  acids 
(humic,  ulmic,  etc.,)  resulting  frofn  the 
interaction  of  the  carbon  and  oxygen  in  the  soil,  are 
quite  apt  to  fix  and  hold  it  there  for  ready  use  of 
plants.  Ammonia  forms  also  quite  freely  in  the  ex- 
crements of  animals,  especially  so  in  urine,  and  is 
just  the  substance  that  gives  to  these  manures  their 
great  value  and  quick-acting  character. 

Nitrogen  also  combines  with  oxygen.  These  two 
elementary  bodies,  as  already  stated,  exist  in  the 
atmosphere  in  a  mere  mixture ;  and  that  it  needs 
considerable  compulsion  to  make  them  unite  chemi- 
cally, is  a  fortunate  thing  for  us,  for  the  combination,, 
nitric  acid,  is  a  most  powerful,  corrosive  and  de- 
structive substance,  and  its  free  combination  in  the 
atmosphere  might  make  things  rather  uncomfort- 
able for  living  creatures.    There  is  still  a  good  deal 


NITRIC    ACID.  29 

of   mystery  connected   with    the  ways  of    nature 

in  effecting  a  chemical  combination   between   the 

two    atmospheric    constituents,    as 

andcomp^unds.  ^^^^  ^^  *^^  formation  of  ammonia. 
Even  scientific  men  cannot  wholly 
satisfy  our  thirst  for  more  knowledge  on  this  sub- 
ject. The  electric  spark,  passing  through  the  at- 
mosphere as  lightning,  is  probably  a  most  important 
factor  in  the  creation  of  nitric  acid,  and  perhaps  of 
ammonia.  Nitric  acid  is  also  produced  in  the  soil 
from  nitrogenous  substances  by  means  of  a  low 
form  of  organism.  Scientists  usually  tell  us  of  a 
'^  vegetable  ferment,"  and  then  leave  the  matter  to 
our  imagination. 

It  must  appear  evident  that  nitric  acid  cannot  be 
taken  up  by  plants  in  this  free  and  exceedingly 
corrosive  form.  The  acid  nature  urges  to  a  combi- 
nation with  an  alkali  whenever  an  opportunity  is 
offering,  and  such  is  not  lacking  in  nature.  Nitric 
acid  may  find  potash,  and  combining  with  it,  form 
the  harmless  and  well-known  substance,  saltpetre, 
or  nitre;  or  it  may  combine  with  soda,  forming 
nitrate  of  soda  or  Chili  saltpetre  (sometimes  called 
cubic  saltpetre  from  the  form  of  its  crystals),  or  it 
may  combine  with  lime,  forming  nitrate  of  lime,  or 
with  magnesia,  forming  nitrate  of  magnesia,  etc. 


SIXTH  CHAPTER. 


ACIDS,  ALKALIES,  AND  SALTS. 


TN  THE  **ash"  of  plants,  i.  e.,  in  the  small  residue, 
left  after  any  vegetable  substance — wood,  turf 
leaves,  plant  fibre,  corn  cobs,  etc. — has  been  burned  in 
the  air,  the  dissecting  (analyzing)  chemist  discovers 
a  number  of  substances,  those  already  named  as  in- 
organic (soil-derived)  elements  of  plant  growth,  viz: 
calcium,  chlorine,  magnesium,  phosphorous,  potas- 
sium, silicon,  soda  and  sulphur.  Most  of  them 
appear  in  combination  with  oxygen,  the  elementary 

body  which  readily  forms  simple  com- 
conJoSdB.   Po^ii<is  with  almost  all  other  elements, 

whenever  brought  in  contact  with  them. 
Some  of  these  compounds  are  acids,  others  alkalies, 
others  neutral  substances.  Thus  we  have  the  fol- 
lowing compounds : 

ACIDS  : 

Cart)on^  [  ^^^"^i^g  carbonic  acid. 
Phosphorus  1  *^™^^g  phosphoric  acid. 


SIMPLE  COMPOUNDS.  31 

ACIDS  (continued). 

Sulphur  I  fo^^^i^g  sulphuric  acid. 

uxygen  /  fQ^-jj^jng  giUca  (classed  among  the  acids). 

4  ALKALIES  ; 

^xygen  I  fQp^ijjg  caustic  lime,  or  calcium  oxide, 
^xygen       /  forming  potash,  or  potassium  oxide. 

NEUTEAL   SUBSTANCES. 

Oxygen  also  combines  readily  with  metals.  The 
rust  found  on  the  unused  plowshare  or  hoe  is  noth- 
ing more  nor  less  than  the  result  of  a  chemical  com- 
bination of  the  iron  with  the  oxygen  of  the  atmos- 
phere— iron  oxide  or  iron  rust.  The  green  substance 
often  seen  on  copper  coins,  etc.,  is  copper  oxide  or 
copper  rust,  a  simple  compound  of  copper  with 
oxygen. 

Acids  are  also  formed  by  the  combination  of  hy- 
drogen with  a  few  elementary  substances,  but  the 
only  one  worth  mentioning  in  this  treatise  is: 

Chlorine^  [  forming  muriatic  (or  hydro-chloric)  acid. 

With  nitrogen,  on  the  other  hand,  hydrogen  com- 
bines in  the  formation  of  an  alkali  that  is  most 
important  to  the  soil  tiller,  namely: 

Nftrogen^  I  ^^^"^i^g  ^^^  alkali— ammonia. 


32  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

Another  simple  compound  of  importance  to  the 
farmer  is  the  following : 

Chlorine  )  forming  chloride  of  sodium  or  common 
Sodium  )         salt. 

Compounds  between  simple  substances,  as  we 
have  seen,  are  readily  formed.  These  simple  com- 
pounds, acids  as  well  as  alkalies,  also  have  a  strong 
desire  to  enter  into  more  complicated  chemical  com- 
binations; but,  while  neither  of  them  can  combine 
with  a  simple  substance  (or  element),  each  acid  seeks 
the  union  with  an  alkali,  and  each  alkali  the  union 
with  an  acid.  It  is  only  the  same  old  story.  The 
male  or  positive|principle  in  nature  seeks  the  female 
or  negative  principle,  and  the  female  or  negative 
principle  cannot  find  its  rest  and  satisfaction  except 
in  union  with  the  opposite  principle.  We  will  also 
find  that  these  simple  compounds  have  their  prefer- 
ences— Miss  Alkali  accepting  one  Mr.  Acid  and 
refusing  another  when  a  choice  is  given.  Some  of 
the  acids  (called  "  strong  acids, "  sulphuric  acid  for 
instance)  seem  to  be  veritable  "Don  Juans,"  step- 
ping in  between  unions  already  formed,  we  might 
say,  forcing  a  divorce  by  driving  off  the  weaker 
acid  and  taking  the  bride.  Carbonic  acid  is  one  of 
the  "weak"  ones,  and  often  has  to  take  a  back  seat. 
It  happens  that  the  weak  party  is  content  with 
taking  up  the  alkali  that  the  strong  acid  has  cast 
aside  for  a  more  congenial  union.  The  two  parties 
then  exchange  partners — by  a  sort  of  double  divorce 
and  cross- marriage.  A  case  of  this  kind  is  that  of 
gypsum  and  ammonia. 

It  is  not  unusual  to  see  married  life  modify  or 
change  prominent  characteristics  in  both  parties;  to 
neutralize  each  other's  vices,  harshnesses,  or  mischiv- 
ous    inclinations.       A   chemical    union    also,    and 


DOUBLE   COMPOUNDS.  33 

always,  has  a  very  decided  influence  of  this  kind. 
While  acids  and  alkalies  in  their  single  blessedness 
may  be  ever  so  dangerous,  poisonous  or  corrosive, 
they  neutralize  each  other  when  combined,  lose  their 
acidity,  or  acridity,  and  become  the  entirely  or 
comparatively  harmless  substances  termed  ''salts." 
I  do  not  flatter  myself  that  the  table  of  acids  and 
alkalies,  or  of  the  compounds  (salts)  which  must 
enter  in  consideration  in  a  treatise  on  agricultural 
chemistry,  will  afford  as  pleasant  reading  as  many 
of  the  modern  novels;  but  I  am  sure  that  the  young 
farmer  will  flnd  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  these 
substances,  with  which  he  has  to  deal  in  his  farming 
operations,  and  some  of  which  he  finds  mentioned 
in  almost  every  issue  of  the  agricultural  paper  he 
reads,  far  more  pi:ofltable.  The  desire  to  know 
"  what  things  are  made  of  "  is  universal.  The  toys 
given  to  me  during  my  childhood 

^°''^irsaite°''''^'*  (^^^  ^^^^^  *^^s®  presented  to  the 
children  of  our  neighbors)  had  to 
suffer  from  my  inquisitiveness,  and  they  were  in- 
variably subjected  to  a  mechanical  analysis  before 
they  had  been  in  my  hands  many  days.  So  it  will 
alway  be  a  great  satisfaction  to  any  intelligent  far- 
mer to  know  the  nature  and  composition  of  the 
various  substances  which  he  has  to  handle. 

TABLE  OF  DOUBLE  COMPOUNDS  OR  SALTS: 


forming  carbon- 
ate of  lime. 


Ca^?>n^  [  forming  carbonic    acid 
Calcfum  [  ^^™^^^  ^^^^^'^^  1™^ 

Carbfn}f^™^^g  ^^^^^^^^   ^^^^  |  forming  carbon- 
Oxygen  \  4.^^^-   „  „^^„  f  ate  of  soda. 

Sodium  r°™''^S«°'^^  J 


34 


PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 


^xygen  (  fQpjj^jjjg  carbonic   acid 


Oxygen  .    |  forming  potash  (po- 
Potassium  )  tassium  oxide 


forming  carbon- 
ate of  potash  or 
pearl  ash. 


nSI |en  I  ^^^n^i^^  ^i*^^  ^^i^ 
Oxygen  |  forming  caustic  lime 
Calcium  )  (calcium  oxide). 

SftrSen  [  fo™i"g  "it""  ««id 


forming  nitrate   of 
lime. 


forming  nitrate  of 
soda  (Chili  or  cubic 
saltpetre). 


T^?Z5^^^  .  forming  nitric  acid    forming  nitrate  of 
oSn      )  ^P^^^^^      (common 

Potassium  f  ^^^"^i^S  potash     J  saltpetre  or  nitre). 

Oxygen         \  forming  phospho- ") 
Phosphorus  i   ric  acid  ! 


8aiSlf«--«--t-i™«r"™" 


forming  ph'sphate 


Oxygen  )  forming  sulphuric  ^ 
Sulphur  j  acid 
Oxygen  [  forming  caustic 
Calcium  \  lime 


forming  sulphate  of 
lime  (gypsum,  land- 
plaster.) 


Oxygen  )  forming  sulphuric  ] 

Sulphur  I  acid  I  forming  sulphate  of 

forming  soda  J  ««^*  ^^^^^^^^"^  »^1*«) 


Oxygen 
Sodium 


Oxygen  )  forming  sulphuric  ^ 
Sulphur  j  acid 
Oxygen        )  forming  mag- 
Magnesium  )  nesia 


forming  sulphate  of 
magnesia  ( Epsom 
salts). 


Oxygen  )  forming  sulphuric  1 

Sulphur  j  acid  >  forming  sulphate  of 

pSSaxnlf-mingpotashjPO^-^- 


DOUBLE   COMPOUNDS. 


35 


Oxygen  )  forming  sulphuric  ] 

Sulphur  \  acid  !  forming  sulphate  of 

O^yg^n  j  forming  iron  oxide  J  ^''''  ^S^^^""  copperas). 

Oxygen  )  forming  sulphuric  1  f „„„}„„  <,„]Tihatp   of 
Sulphur  \  acid  '  copper^  bfu^'lne! 

blue  copperas). 


Sulphi 

Oxyen  )  forming  copper  ox- 
Copper  j  ide 

Oxygen  )  forming  carbonic 
Carbon   j"  acid 
Oxygen  \  forming  copper 
Copper  j  oxide 

Hydrogen  )  forming     muriatic 

Chlorine     |  (hydrochloric  acid)  ^ehloride)  of  pot- 


forming  carbonate    of 
copper  (mineral  green). 


I  forming    muriate 
Kgln^'l^^™^''^    ^^"^^^^4  forming    sulphate 


Oxygen  ) 
Sulphur  j 


forming 
acid 


sulphuric  (  of  ammonia. 


Oxygen  )  forming  carbonic  "^ 
Carbon   j  acid 
Hydrogen  )  forming  ammo 
Nitrogen   )  nia 


forming    carbonate  of 
ammonia. 


SEVENTH  CHAPTER. 


THE  MINERAL  PLANT  CONSTITUENTS  LIME, 

SALT,    SULPHUR,    SODA,  MAGNESIA, 

AND   SILICON. 


T  IME  is  a  substance  well-known  to  every  reader. 
Wlien  freshly  burnt,  as  quick  lime  or  caustic 
lime,  it  is  a  chemical  combination  of  the  metal  cal- 
cium with  the  gas  oxygen  having  a  great  affinity 
or  passion  for  water  and  for  carbonic  acid.  If  ex- 
posed to  the  air,  it  absorbs  moisture,  and  after 
awhile  falls  in  the  fine  powder  known  as  "air- slacked 
lime."  Afterwards  it  also  absorbs  carbonic  acid 
from  its  surroundings.  We  can  often  put  this 
passion  of  burnt  lime  for  the  two  substances  to  good 
use  in  various  ways.  We  know  that  every 
three  pounds  of  it  absorbs  one  pound  of 
water,  and  that  it  takes  it  wherever  it  finds  it. 
Undue  or  excessive  dampness  in  cellars,  tomato 
forcing  houses,  etc.,  may  be  easily  removed,  or 
greatly  reduced,  by  placing  boxes  containing  burnt 
lime  in  such  buildings  or  rooms;  and  cellars,  mines, 
wells,  etc.,  can  be  cleared  of  the  poisonous  carbonic 
acid  gas,  if  any  such  exists  in  them,  by  a  few  hand- 
fuls  of  freshly -slacked  lime. 

Lime  combined  with  carbonic  acid  exists  in  great 


LIME   AND   ITS   USE.  37 

profusion  in  nature.  It  forms  whole  mountains,  and 
many  soils  are  largely  composed  of  it.  The  shell- 
marls  are  almost  pure  ' 'carbonate  of  lime"  (chalk), 
as  this  combination  of  lime  is  named,  and  most  soils 
are  abundantly  supplied  with  it.  Lime  is  indis- 
pensable to  the  healthy  growth  of  cultivated  crops, 
and  where  it  is  deficient,  as  in  many  peaty  soils, 
such  crops  must  suffer  unless  lime  is  applied  in 
some  form.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  the 
natural  formation  of  nitric  acid  in  the  soil  (by  the 
conversion  of  nitrogenous  matter,  mysteriously  but 
conveniently  called  "nitrification"),  is  dependent  on 
the  presence  of  lime,  soda,  or  some  other  base.  Sup- 
pose we  have  a  peaty  soil  unfit  to  produce  good 
crops  on  account  of  its  acidity  and  deficiency  of 
lime.  If  we  then  apply  fresh-burnt  (caustic  or 
quick)  lime,  its  very  first  action  will  be  to  combine 
with  and  neutralize  the  free  acids,  and  thus 
sweeten  the  soil.  Some  of  the  new  compounds  are 
often  immediately  utilized  for  plant  food.  The  lime 
also  breaks  up  compounds  in  which  potash,  am- 
monia and  soda  are  held  in  an  insoluble  condition, 
and  makes  these  substances  available  for  plant  food. 
It  further  hastens  the  decomposition  of  organic 
matter  in  the  soil  and  otherwise  aids  in  furnishing 
plants  with  the  available  compounds  they  desire. 

Lime  is  usually  applied  in  the  form  of  air-slacked 
lime,  marl  or  in  other  forms  of  carbonate  of  lime. 
Peaty  soils  are  often  underlaid  with  a  layer  of  marl 
(generally  almost  pure  carbonate  of  lime,  which, 
owing  to  the  natural  tendency  of  lime  to  sink  in  the 
soil,  has,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  been  deposited 
upon  an  impervious  clay  subsoil);  hence  such  form 
of  lime  is  generally  readily  accessible  for  use  on 
these  kinds  of  soil.    Here  it  may  directly  afford 


38  PRACTICAL  FARM  CHEMISTRY. 

food  to  plants.  It  removes  the  sourness  of  sour 
soils,  yielding  carbonic  acid,  and  promotes  the  slow 
growth  or  formation,  from  nitrogen  compounds,  of 
nitric  acid,  with  which  it  combines,  forming  nitrate 
of  lime,  a  compound  having  about  the  same  value 
as  plant  food  and  the  quick  effect  of  nitrate  of  soda. 
On  heavy  clay  soils  it  also  exerts  a  beneficial  me- 
chanical action,  rendering  them  more  open  and 
porous,  helping  to  admit  air,  and  to  liberate  locked- 
up  plant  foods. 

It  will  be  seen  from  all  this  that  the  application 
of  lime,  in  one  form  or  another,  is  decidedly  bene- 
ficial to  a  certain  extent,  and  especially  so  far  as 
immediate  results  are  concerned.  When  overdone 
or  long  continued,  however,  lime  applications  with- 
out other  fertilizer  tend  to  ultimate  soil  exhaustion 
by  hastening  the  removal  of  the  scarcer  and  more 
valuable  plant  foods  (potash,  phosphoric  acid  and 
nitrogen),  either  when  consumed  by  and  taken  off 
with  the  crops,  or  when  allowed  to  escape  into  the 
drains,  as  all  nitrates  are  inclined  to  do,  unless 
caught  and  held  by  growing  plants.  It  is  good  logic 
what  our  forefathers  expressed  in  the  rhyme  : 

Lime  without  manure 

Makes  the  father  rich  and  the  children  poor. 

The  refuse  lime  of  the  gas  works  is  frequently 
spoken  of  both  as  a  fertilizer  or  rather  stimulant, 
and  as  a  repeller  or  destroyer  of  injurious  insects. 
Prof.  Caldwell,  of  Cornell  University,  gave  me  his 
opinion  of  its  value  as  follows: 

''Gas  lime  is  composed  chiefly  of    carbonate  of 

lime  and  varying  quantities  of  sulphate  of  lime  (or 

ordinary  land  plaster),  sulphite  of  lime, 

sulphide    of    lime,    and  more    or  less 

unchanged  lime.     The  sulphite  and  sulphide  are 


39 

harmful  to  vegetation,  especially  tlie  latter;  but  on 
exposure  of  the  gas  lime  for  a  considerable  time  to 
the  air  they  become  changed  to  the  useful  sulphate. 
The  carbonate  is  of  little  value,  and  only  the  sul- 
phate and  the  unchanged  lime  can  be  counted  on  as 
of  any  use . 

'  'I  do  not  consider  the  material  as  of  much  value 
for  fertilizing  purposes ;  for  after  due  exposure  to 
the  air,  to  render  the  sulphide  and  the  sulphite 
harmless,  the  unchanged  lime  will  also,  in  this  time, 
be  converted  to  carbonate,  so  that  only  the  sulphate 
is  left  to  be  useful ;  and  if  I  were  going  to  use  land 
plaster,  I  would  prefer  to  buy  it  outright  and  know 
what  I  have. 

"As  an  insecticide  its  use  would  be  dangerous, 
because  of  its  effect  on  the  plant  itself,  unless  it  has 
been  well  aired,  and  as  for  its  usefulness  in  this  re- 
spect after  having  been  thus  aired,  it  would  be  same 
as  a  mixture  of  plaster  and  chalk." 

Besides  these  compounds  (carbonate  and  nitrate), 
lime  enters  into 'still  other  important  combinations, 
especially  with  phosphoric  acid,  forming  phosphate 
of  lime;  and  with  sulphuric  acid,  forming  sulphate 
of  lime  (gypsum).  More  will  be  said  about  these 
further  on. 

The  aristocratic  name  given  to  the  simple  com- 
pound of  the  element  chlorine,  a  poisonous  gas, 
with  the  element  sodium  is  "chloride  of  sodium." 
Ordinarily  it  is  called  salt.     Both  of  its 

^Tau!^  component  parts  can  serve  as  plant  food. 
The  oxide  of  the  metal  sodium  is  soda. 
Some  plants,  like  beets,  turnips,  etc.,  contain  con- 
siderable chlorine  and  still  more  of  soda.  For  this 
reason  the  application  of  this  chloride  of  sodium 
(common  salt)  is  found  to  be  quite  beneficial  for  such 


40  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

crops  on  some  soils.  As  a  general  thing,  however^ 
soda,  chlorine,  as  also  magnesia — which  is  an  oxide 
of  the  metal  magnesium — are  present  in  sufficient 
quanities  in  the  soil;  and  we  have  no  reason  what- 
ever to  worry  about  means  how  to  get  them.  This 
is  also  generally  the  case  with  silica  (oxide  of  sili- 
con, silic  acid),  as  it  constitutes  a  large  percentage 
of  our  common  soils  in  the  shape  of  finely  divided 
quartz,  flint,  rock  crystal. 

Chlorine,  as  stated,  acts  favorably  upon  some 
plants  under  certain  conditions.  From  this  it  should 
not  be  inferred  that  the  substance  is  a  safe  plant 
food.  It  is  death  to  most  plants  if  applied  freely. 
Salt  is  recommended  for  killing  weeds.  The  execu- 
tioner, in  this  case,  is  the  chlorine  in  the  salt,  and 
we  have  to  handle  this  substance  somewhat  care- 
fully. The  German  potash  salts  (muriate,  kainit) 
contain  considerable  chlorine,  either  as  impure  salt 
or  as  chloride  of  potash,  and  large  applications  on 
some  soils  and  for  some  crops  may  result  in  injury 
and  disappointment. 

Sulphur  enters  plant  structure  in  comparatively 
small  quantities  only,  and  as  it  is  most  abundant  in 
nature,  and  cheaply  obtained,  hardly  deserves 
serious  consideration  in  its  character  as 
^  ^  ^'  plant  food.  In  its  combinations,  how- 
ever, it  looms  up  as  a  most  important  agent  of 
rendering  other  plant  foods  available,  and  of  pre- 
venting their  waste  and  loss.  Combined  with 
oxygen,  it  appears  as  the  well-known,  cheap, 
powerfully  corrosive  substance,  "sulphuric  acid,'' 
and  thus  it  usually  appears  in  plant  structure. 

In  gypsum,  or  sulphate  of  lime,  we  have  a  combi- 
nation of  sulphuric  acid  with  lime  and  water;  in 
plaster  Paris  the  same  compound  without  water. 


SULPHURIC   ACID.  41 

Being  soluble  in  400  times  its  bulk  of  water,  gypsum 
supplies  to  plants  both  sulphuric  acid  and  lime, 
perhaps  directly.  Its  great  value  lies  in  its  action 
upon  ammonia,  which  in  its  usual  form  of  carbonate 
of  ammonia  is  exceedingly  volatile.  For  this  it 
proves  a  most  excellent  and  effective  trap — a  trap 
which  a  good  farmer  should  not  fail  to  keep  well  set 
in  his  stables  and  on  manure  heaps.  The  sulphuric 
acid  exerts  its  superior  power  by  tearing  the  ammo- 
nia from  its  combination  with  carbonic  acid  and 
taking  it  to  its  own  heart,  forming  the  compound 
^'sulphate  of  ammonia,"  (which  is  held  in  the  soil  or 
manure  until  taken  up  by  the  plants,  or  converted 
into  nitrates),  and  leaving  the  carbonic  acid  and 
lime  to  get  along  as  best  they  may  in 

^^^i?^"  the  new  union  of  carbonate  of  lime. 
Here  again  we  have  sulphuric  acid  m 
the  role  of  caterer  or  provider  of  plant  food  to  needy 
crops. 

In  a  practical  treatise  we  have  little  occasion  to 
speak  of  the  compounds  of  sulphuric  acid  with  soda 
and  magnesia,  sulphate  of  soda  and  sulphate  of 
magnesia,  as  we  do  not  need  to  apply  them  as  plant 
foods.  Sulphate  of  potash,  the  combination  of  sul- 
phuric acid  and  potash,  will  be  spoken  of  later  on. 

The  compound  sulphate  of  iron  (green  copperas, 
iron  vitriol)  is  reported  to  have  been  applied  to  the 
soil  with  apparently  beneficial  effect,  adding  luxuri- 
ance to  the  foliage,  and  darkening  the  green  color. 
But  this  cannot  possibly  be  due  to  its  character  as 
a  plant  food,  and  may  find  its  explanation  in  the 
action  of  the  acid,  either  upon  plant  foods  already 
in  the  soil,  making  them  available  when  locked  up, 
or  upon  the  spores  of  fungous  diseases  of  plants, 
depriving  them  of  their  power  of  germination. 


42  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

The  compound  sulphate  of  copper  (blue  vitriol, 
bluestone,  copper  vitriol)  is  valuable  as  a  spore 
killer  and  preventive  of  fungous  diseases  of  plants 
and  now  largely  used  for  the  prevention  of  grape 
mildew  and  rot,  potato  rot,  tomato  blight  and  rot, 
melon  blight,  and  many  other  fungous  enemies  to 
our  crops.     So  also  is  carbonate  of  copper. 

Another,  and  most  important  use  made  of  sul- 
phuric acid,  is  in  the  treatment  of  bones  and  phos- 
phatic  rocks  by  which  they  are  transformed  into  so- 
called  superphosphates,  and  rendered  soluble  and 
consequently  immediately  available  for  plant  food. 

The  compounds  of  silica  constitute  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  earth's  surface.  The  tiny,  glossy 
pieces  of  "sand"  or  quartz  which  abound  everywhere, 
are  almost  pure  silicious  acid  (silica); 
and  the  rocks,  sandstones,  the  soil — all 
contain  it  in  abundance.  So  we  have  the  silicates 
of  alumina,  potash,  soda,  etc.  The  element  silicon, 
although  not  exactly  indispensable  to  plant  growth, 
enters  quite  largely  into  plant  structure,  especially 
near  the  outside,  and  is  the  substance  which  gives 
the  glossy,  hard  surface  to  the  stems  of  cereals  and 
grasses,  thus  adding  stiffness  to  the  stalks  and 
making  them  self-supporting.  It  is  also  true  that  a 
vast  store  of  unavailable  potash  is  held  in  some  of 
these  silica  compounds.  This  potash  is  gradually 
rendered  soluble  and  fitted  for  the  use  of  plants  by 
the  slow  process  of  disintegration  and  decompo- 
sition, through  the  action  of  carbonic  acid,  etc . ,  as 
the  years  roll  by.  I  mention  this  merely  to  show 
that  we  can  expect  at  least  some  assistance  from 
every  soil  in  furnishing  us  this  needed  substance  of 
plant  food. 


EIGHTH  CHAPTER. 


THE    MINERAL    PLANT   CONSTITUENTS 
PHOSPHORUS  AND    POTASSIUM. 


'\17'E  NOW  come  to  a  consideration  of  the  sub- 
stances of  plant  food,  which  with  available 
nitrogen  are  of  more  than  ordinary  interest  to  the 
farmer.  All  other  substances  needed  for  plant 
growth  are  so  generally  and  abundantly  provided 
in  average  soils,  that  they  need  not  give  us  any 
serious  concern.  The  supply  of  available  phospho- 
rus and  potassium,  like  that  of  nitrogen,  however, 
becomes  exhausted  by  continued  cropping,  and  we 
find  ourselves  confronted  by  the  necessity  of  sup- 
plying the  deficiency,  or  of  ceasing  to  produce  crops. 

The  element  phosphorus  has  a  strong  liking  for 
oxygen,  and  it  unites  with  it  on  the  slightest  provo- 
cation. A  "  mere  scratch, "  or  the  least  friction,  is 
suflScient  to  make  it  flare  up  in  a  sud- 

^^Acw!'**^  den  outburst  of  fire,  resulting  in  a  vio- 
lent union  of  the  two  elements,  and 
thus  forming  phosphoric  acid.  This  is  an  occur- 
rence that  comes  under  our  daily  observation. 

The  colored  mixture  at  the  end  of  a  common 


44  PRACTICAL   FARM  CHEMISTRY. 

matcli  contains  a  small  quantity  of  phosphorus.  A 
slight  scratch,  or  the  sole  of  your  boot  placed  upon 
it  on  the  barn  floor,  or  the  mere  nibbling  of  a  mouse 
or  rat,  is  sufficient  to  provoke  the  atom  of  phospho- 
rus to  unite  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air;  thus,  in  one 
case,  giving  you  the  means  to  light  your  pipe  or  the 
kindling  in  the  stove,  or,  in  the  other  case,  setting 
barn  or  house  on  fire.  The  product  of  the  union  of 
the  two  elements  is  a  cloud  of  dense,  whitish  fumes, 
and  consists  of  the  often-mentioned,  all-important 
plant  food,  phosphoric  acid. 

We  need  not  concern  ourselves  about  the  charac- 
teristic features  of  this  simple  compound,  its  corro- 
siveness,  sour  taste,  its  solubility  in  water,  etc.,  for 
we  find  it  in  plant  and  animal  structure  only  in 
combinations  with  lime,  soda,  potash  and  other 
bases,  and  in  these  forms  fortunately  for  us,  it  is 
universally  diffused,  and  very  plentiful  in  nature. 

Phosphate  of  lime  is  by  far  the  most  important 
and  the  most  common  of  these  combinations;  and 
we  find  it  in  inexhaustible  natural  deposits  as  apa- 
tite, or  mineral  phosphate  of  lime;  in  the  remains  of 
animals;  in  phosphatic  guanos  (leached 
**"^  *  *  dung  of  sea  fowls),  etc.  South  Caro- 
lina and  Florida  furnish  vast  quantities  of  phosphate 
rock.  More  than  one  half  of  the  dry  substance  of 
animal  and  human  bones  consists  of  phosphate  of 
lime,  and  nearly  one  half  of  the  latter  consists  of 
phosphoric  acid.  Flesh  and  other  animal  tissues 
have  also  some  phosphate  of  lime,  and  each  one 
hundred  pounds  of  dried  bones  contain  about 
twenty-eight  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid. 

In  animal  manures,  epecially  in  the  liquid  void- 
ings  of  living  creatures,  we  find  another  and  more 
concentrated  form  of   phosphoric  acid — a  double 


PHOSPHATES.  45 

phosphate  (bi-phosphate)  of  lime,  containing  more 
than  seventy  per  cent  of  the  acid,  and  a  very  valu- 
able form  of  plant  food.  There  are  other  compounds 
of  phosphoric  acid,  as  for  instance,  phosphate  of 
magnesia,  which  also  enters  into  plant  and  animal 
tissue;  phosphate  of  soda,  of  potash,  etc.,  but  phos- 
phate of  lime  is  really  the  only  compound  of  this 
acid  of  real  importance  to  us  as  a  source  of  plant 
food,  and  in  bones,  guano,  phosphate  rock,  and 
Thomas'  or  basic  slag  (phosphate  meal,  odorless 
phosphate)  we  have  the  only  stores  worth  mention- 
ing from  which  we  can  draw  our  supply  of  phos- 
phoric acid. 

The  compound  ^'phosphate  of  lime,"  wherever 
found  as  a  natural  product,  is  firmly  fixed,  and  does 
not  readily  yield  up  its  phosphoric  acid  to  the  use 
of  plants.  The  lime  holds  the  acid  in  firm  embrace. 
In  sulphuric  acid,  however,  we  have  a  means  of 
breaking  the  combination.  This  powerful  acid, 
when  brought  in  contact  with  phosphate  of  lime, 
forces  some  of  the  lime  to  part  with  its  phosphoric 
acid,  and  enters  with  this  lime  into  a  new  union — 
sulphate  of  lime  or  gypsum.  The  phosphoric  acid 
thus  freed  or  driven  off,  attaches  itself  lightly  to 
the  remaining  lime,  forming  with  it  a  double  or  bi- 
phosphate.  By  the  addition  of  more  sulphuric  acid 
this  process  may  be  repeated  until  we  have  a  treble 
phosphate,  generally  called  a  superphosphate, 
which  is  a  little  lime  and  a  great  deal  of  phosphoric 
acid.  The  excess  of  the  latter,  however,  is  always 
ready  to  leave  the  companionship  of  the  lime  in  the 
regular  phosphate  of  lime  combination  on  short 
notice,  either  to  sacrifice  itself  for  use  by  plants,  or 
to  enter  new  and  more  congenial  combinations  with 
free  lime,  soda,  etc.,  in  the  soil.    When  the  latter 


46  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

process  takes  place,  we  have  the  so-called  "reverted 
phosphoric  acid." 

Neither  the  element  potassium,  nor  its  compound 
with  oxygen  (potassium  oxide,  ordinarily  called 
* 'potash")  is  ever  met  with  in  nature  in  a  free  form. 
The  form  in  which  everybody  is  familiar 
with  it,  is  "carbonate  of  potash,"  a  com- 
pound of  potassium  oxide  (or  potash)  with  carbonic 
acid.  This  compound  is  readily  soluble  in  water. 
It  appears  in  fresh  wood  ashes,  in  corn  cob  ashes,  in 
cotton  seed  hull  ashes,  etc. ;  and  no  better  form  is 
known  in  which  potash  could  be  applied  to  the  soil, 
or  utilized  as  plant  food. 

In  chloride  of  potassium  we  have  a  simple  com- 
pound of  the  metal  potassium  with  chlorine.  This 
is  found  in  sea  water,  and  in  the  potash  salts  mined 
at  the  salt  mines  near  Stassf  urt  in  Prussia,  Germany, 
and  known  as  muriate  of  potash.  Sulphate  of  pot- 
ash, obtained  from  the  same  source,  is  a  compound 
of  potash  with  sulphuric  acid,  and  kainit  a  sulphate 
of  lower  grade. 

One  of  the  most  valuable,  but  also  expensive, 
forms  of  potash,  is  the  compound  of  potash  with 
nitric  acid,  known  as  nitrate  of  potash  or  saltpetre. 
This  furnishes  two  elements  of  plant  food  at  the 
same  time,  potash  and  nitrogen  (the  latter  in  the 
available  nitrate  form),  and  is  found  in  large  beds 
in  South  America,  and  also  produced  naturally  in 
any  soil  containing  decaying  vegetable  matter  and 
potash,  or  artificially  in  so-called  nitre  beds.  Potash 
also  exists  in  combination  with  several  other  acids, 
as  with  oxalic  acid  in  rhubarb,  with  citric  acid  in 
lemons,  oranges,  etc.,  and  with  tartaric  acid  in 
grapes. 


NINTH  CHAPTER. 


CHEMICAL    SYMBOLS,  FORMULAS,  ANT) 
ATOMIC    WEIGHTS. 


The  Experiment  Station  chemists,  and  other 
writers  on  matters  pertaining  to  fertilizers,  fre- 
quently make  use,  in  bulletins  and  agricultural 
journals,  of  a  system  of  lettering  and  figuring  which 
somewhat  resembles  the  mysterious  signs  and 
characters  found  in  physicians'  prescriptions.  The 
aim  I  have  in  view  in  writing  this  chapter,  is  to  give 
to  those  who  wish  to  fathom  all  these  mysteries,  a 
clue  for  the  understanding  of  the  true  meaning  of 
such  sign- writing.  While  an  intimate  knowledge 
of  it  is  not  indispensable  for  the  full  understanding 
of  the  problems  treated  in  the  second  and  third  parts 
of  this  volume,  yet  on  the  other  hand,  the  young 
man  who  aspires  to  a  front  rank  among  progressive 
farmers,  cannot  afford  to  remain  in  entire  ignorance 
of  all  these  things. 

The  explanation  of  the  mystery  is  as  follows:  All 
chemical  elements  are  represented  by  symbols  which 
are  the  first  letters  of  their  respective  names.    Only 


48  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

where  different  elements  have  the  same  initial  letter 
a  small  letter  is  added.    Thus 


0     stands  for  oxygen. 

H 

"  hydrogen. 

C 

"  carbon. 

N 

'       "  nitrogen. 

S 

"  sulphur. 

P 

"  phosphorus. 

K 

"  potassium  (Latin:  kalium) 

CI 

"  chlorine. 

Na       ' 

"  sodium  (Latin:  Tiairmm). 

As 

"  arsenic. 

Cu       ' 

"  copper  (Latin :  cwprww). 

Mg      ' 

"  magnesium. 

Fe       ' 

"  iron  {IjdMn:  ferrum). 

8i 

'        "  silicon. 

The  meaning  of  the  letter  or  character,  however, 
does  not  end  with  this.  It  does  not  merely  repre- 
sent the  substance  or  element,  but  also  indicates 
a  certain  quantity  of  it — and  this  quantity  is  the 
atom — the  ultimate  unit  of  the  chemist,  and  the 
smallest  imaginary  particle  of  the  element  in  ques- 
tion. Such  an  atom  is  indivisable,  unchangeable 
and  indestructible. 

The  atom  is  the  smallest  quantity  of  an  elemen- 
tary substance  that  can  enter  into  a  chemical  com- 
bination with  other  atoms.  A  group  of  such  chemi- 
cally combined  atoms  forms  a  molecule,  which  is  the 
smallest  imaginary  particle  of  a  compound  sub- 
stance. Such  molecule  is  subject  to  many  changes. 
Under  the  term  "chemical  analysis"  we  understand 
the  process  of  tearing  a  molecule  asunder  for  the 
purpose  of  discovering  its  component  atoms. 

Now  the  atoms  of  all  these  elements,  when  enter- 
ing combinations,  have  a  fixed  relative  weight. 
The    hydrogen    atom   (H)   being    the  lightest,    its 


CHEMICAL   SYMBOLS.  49 

weight  is  taken  as  1.  On  that  basis  the  atomic 
weights  (or  numbers  representing  the  comparative 
weights  of  atoms— the  atomic  numbers)  are  as  fol- 
lows, viz.: 

Hydrogen  (H)      -  -  -  .  _  i 

Carbon  (C)  -  -  -  .  -      12 

Nitrogen  (N)      -  -  -  -  .  14 

Oxygen  (O)  -----     16 

Sodium  (Na)    -----  23 

Magnesium       (Mg)  -  -  -  .  -     24 

Silicon  (Si)    -  -  -  -  -  28 

Phosphorus      (P)  -  -  -  -  -     31 

Sulphur  (S) 32 

Chlorine  (CI)  -  -  -  .  -     35.5 

Potassium         (K)      -  -  .  -  -  39.1 

Calcium  (Ca)  -  -  -  -  -     40 

Iron  (Fe)     -  -  ...  56 

Copper  (Cu)  -  -  -  .  -     63.5 

Arsenic  (As)     -  .  -  -  .  75 

A  group  of  atoms  (or  molecule)  forming  a  chemi- 
€al  compound,  is  represented  by  writing  together 
the  symbols  or  characters  of  the  atoms.  The  mole- 
cule of  hydrochloric  (or  muriatic)  acid,  for  instance, 
consists  of  one  atom  each  of  hydrogen  and  chlorine, 
consequently  it  is  represented  in  this  way:  H  CI. 
Few  compounds,  however,  are  formed  in  this  sim- 
ple way.  Sometimes  two,  sometimes  three  or  more 
atoms  of  the  same  element  are  required  in  the  for- 
mation of  a  chemical  compound  with  atoms  of  other 
elements.  The  molecule  of  water  consists  of  two 
atoms  of  hydrogen,  and  one  of  oxygen.  Its  symbol 
is:  H2O.  Small  arable  figures,  following  after  the 
letter  which  represents  an  elementary  atom,  always 
indicate  the  number  of  such  atoms.  O2  means  two 
atoms  of  oxygen  ;  P4  four  atoms  of  phosphorus,  etc. 
To  represent  several  groups  of  atoms  (molecules)  a 
large  figure  is  placed  before  the  symbol  of  the  com- 
pound.    H2  O  represents  a  single  molecule  of  water; 


60  PEACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

3  H2  O  represents  two  such  molecules,  and  is  equiv- 
alent to  4H+20. 

The  following  is  a  list  of  formulas  of  those  com- 
pounds which  chiefly  interest  the  soil  worker,  viz. : 

H  Cl       stands  for  muriactic  (hydrochloric)  acid. 

Na  CI  "       "  common  salt. 

Na  CO3       "       "  carbonate  of  soda. 

Na  HO        "       "  hydrate  of  soda  or  caustic  soda. 

Na2  SO4  -f-lOHg  O  stands  for  sulphate  of  soda  (Glauber  salts). 

Na  NO3  stands  for  nitrate  of  soda  or  Chili  saltpetre. 

KHO  "       "  hydrate  of  potassium  (caustic  potash) . 

Kg  CO3         "       "  carbonate  of  potash. 

K  NO3         "       •'  nitre  or  saltpetre  (nitrate  of  potash). 

K2  SO4         "       "  sulphate  of  potash. 

K2  O  "       "  potassium  oxide. 

H3  N  "       "  ammonia. 

NO2  **       "  nitrous  acid 

NO3  "       "  nitric  acid. 

NH4  Cl         "       "  sal-ammoniac. 

NHsO  "       "  aqua  ammonia. 

CasPgOg     "       "  phosphate  of  lime. 

AsgOs  "       "  arsenious  acid. 

P2  Os  "       "   phosphoric  oxide  (acid). 

H2  O  "       "   water. 

H«  8  "       "  sulphuretted  hydrogen. 

SO2  "       "  sulphurous  oxide. 

SO  3  "       "  sulphuric  oxide. 

H2  SOs  "       "  sulphurous  acid. 

H2  SO4         "       "  sulphuric  acid. 

Cu  SO4  +  5H2  O  stands  for  sulphate  of  copper  (blue  vitriol). 

Ca  O         stands  for  lime  (caustic  or  burnt  lime,  quick  lime). 

Ca  H2  O2      "       "  slacked  lime. 

Ca  SO4         *•       "  sulphate  of  lime  (plaster  of  Paris). 

Ca  SO4  4-3H2  O  stands  for  gypsum  (land  plaster). 

Ca  CO3     stands  for  carbonate  of  lime. 

Mg  O  "       "  magnesia  (magnesium  oxide). 

Mg  SO4  -\-  7H2  O  stands  for  Epsom  salts  (sulphate  of  magnesia). 

Fe  SO4  -f- 7H2  O  stands  for  sulphate  of  iron  (copperas). 

Si  O2  stands  for  silica. 

CO2         "       "  carbonic  acid. 

CH4        "       "marsh  gas. 

The  reader  may  ask  me:  What  good  to  us  is  there 


ATOMIC   WEIGHTS.  51 

in  these  formulas  or  symbols?  In  the  first  place 
they  tell  us  at  a  glance  of  what  elements  any  of 
these  substances  are  composed.  But  they  do  still 
more.  They,  secondly,  enable  us  to  figure  out  the 
exact  proportion  of  any  element  in  the  compound. 
For  instance,  we  desire  to  discover  how  much 
nitrogen  there  is  in  a  given  quantity  of  ammonia 
(HaN).  The  compound  consists  of  three  atoms  of 
hydrogen  and  one  of  nitrogen.  The  atomic  weight 
of  hydrogen  was  given  as  1;  the  atomic  weight  of 
nitrogen  as  14.    Thus  we  have 

3      H      @      1      -=       3 
1        N        @        14      =        14 

Total,      -  -  .  17 

The  compound  has  an  aggregate  of  17  weight 
units,  of  which  nitrogen  has  14.  In  other  words:  in 
every  17  lbs.  of  ammonia  we  have  14  lbs.  of  nitrogen 
and  3  lbs.  of  hydrogen. 

Another  instance.  We  have  a  chemically  pure 
sample  of  nitrate  of  soda  (Na  NOs ),  and  wish  to 
figure  out  the  percentage  of  nitrogen — which  is  the 
element  of  value  in  the  compound. 

The  atomic  weights  are  as  follows: 

Na  (one  atom  of  sodium  @  23)  -        -        -        -        23 

N  (one  atom  of  nitrogen  @  14) 14 

O3  (three  atoms  of  oxygen  @  16)         -        -        -        -        48 

Total, 85 

Thus  in  every  85  weights  of  the  compound  we 
have  14  weights  of  nitrogen;  in  every  1  lb.  of  the 
compound  |f  lb.  nitrogen;  in  every  100  lbs.  of  the 
former  iff  ^  lbs.  or  16.47  per  cent,  of  nitrogen. 

Still  another  example.    We  wish  to  find  out  what 


52  PRACTICAL  FAEM   CHEMISTRY. 

percentage  of  phosphoric  acid  (P2O5)  is  contained 

in  phosphate  of  lime  (Ca3P208)? 
Phosphate  of  lime  consists  of 
Cas  (three  atoms  of  calcium  @,  40  weight  units)       -       120 
Pa  (two  atoms  of  phosphorus  @  31  weight  units)  -    62 

Os  (eight  atoms  of  oxygen  @  16  weight  units)  -       128 

Total, 310 

Phosphoric  acid  consists  of 
Pj  (two  atoms  of  phosphorus  @,  31  weight  units)        -        62 
Ofi  (five  atoms  of  oxygen  @  16  weight  units)       -       -       80 

Total, 142 

Thus  we  find  in  every  810  weights  of  phosphate 
of  lime  142  weights  of  phosphoric  acid,  which  is 
equal  to  45.80  per  cent. 


End  of  First  Part. 


PART  II. 


THE  AVAILABLE  SOURCES 

OF 

SUPPLY. 


TENTH  CHAPTER. 


WHAT    OUR    SOILS  ARE    MADE  OF. 


T^HE  SOIL,  which  we  work,  is  in  itself  the  most 
important  of  all  of  our  available  sources  of 
plant  food.  It  must  be  of  interest  to  examine  its 
structure  and  general  constitution,  even  before  en- 
tering the  question  of  the  food  elements  which  are 
contained  in  it. 

All  soils  have  more  or  less  organic  matter  de- 
rived from  the  decay  of  animal,  and  still  more  of 
vegetable,  substances.  The  proportion  of  such  or- 
ganic matter  in  naturally  productive  soils  varies 
between  a  mere  fraction  of  one,  and  seventy  per  cent 
of  its  entire  weight.  In  our  best  soils  the  organic 
matter  ranges  from  five  to  twelve  per  cent,  seldom 
more.  Only  in  mucky  and  peaty  soils  does  the 
amount  of  organic  matter  ever  exceed  that  of  the 
Inorganic  or  earthy  matter. 

The  inorganic  or  earthy  part  of  the  soil  consists 
principally  of  silica  or  silicious  sand,  alumina  (as 


6Q  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

clay  or  slate),  and  lime  (as  carbonate  or  chalk).  Clay^ 
or  pure  clay,  as  seen  from  the  far- 

^^TflofiB.'*''  ^^^'®  standpoint,  is  a  compound  of 
about  forty  per  cent  of  alumina — a 
metalic  earth,  the  oxide  of  the  metal  aluminum — and 
about  sixty  per  cent  of  silica  or  sand.  The  great 
tenacity  of  the  compound  is  due  to  the  alumina. 
The  sandy  matter  contained  in  it,  being  in  chemical 
union  with  the  other,  cannot  be  separated  from  it 
by  mere  mechanical  means,  as  washing  or  boiling. 

Soils  are  usually  classified  as  follows : 

1.  Pure  clay,  or  pipe  clay — not  often  met  with  to 
any  great  extent. 

2.  Strong  clay,  or  tile  clay,  consisting  of  pure  clay 
and  five  to  fifteen  per  cent  of  silicious  sand,  which 
latter  is  easily  separated  from  the  clay  by  washing. 

3.  Clay  loam,  consisting  of  pure  clay  with  fifteen 
to  thirty  per  cent  of  sand,  separable  by  washing. 

4.  Loam  or  ordinary  loam,  containing  pure  clay 
with  thirty  to  sixty  per  cent  of  sand. 

5.  Sandy  loam,  containing  sixty  to  ninety  per  cent 
of  sand. 

6.  Sandy  soil,  containing  upwards  of  ninety  per 
cent  of  sand. 

7.  Calcareous  soils,  containing  five  to  twenty,  or 
more,  per  cent  of  carbonate  of  lime.  According  to 
the  proportion  of  clay  and  sand  contained  in  them, 
we  call  them  calcareous  clays,  calcareous  loams,  or 
calcareous  sands. 

8.  Vegetable  moulds,  such  as  rich  old  garden 
soils,  containing  a  very  large  per  cent  of  decayed 
animal  and  vegetable  substances,  as  the  result  of 
often-repeated,  heavy  applications  of  bulky  manures^ 
or  peaty  and  mucky  soils,  containing  thirty  to 
seventy  per  cent  of  organic  matter. 


SIMPLE    SOIL    TEST.  57 

The  larger  the  proportion  of  clay  in  any  soil,  the 
more  tenacious,  the  stiifer  and  closer,  but  also  the 
lighter  in  weight  it  is.  One  cubic  foot  of  strong, 
clay  loam,  for  instance,  weighs  eighty  to  ninety 
pounds,  while  one  cubic  foot  of  sandy  soil  weighs 
110  pounds.  The  same  bulk  of  peat  or  muck,  how- 
ever, weighs  only  from  thirty  to  fifty  pounds. 

Even  the  most  superficial  examination  will  show 
to  the  intelligent  farmer  whether  a  given  soil  be- 
longs to  the  class  of  sandy,  clayey,  or  mucky  soils. 
Still,  the  finer  distinctions  may  become  a  matter 
of  doubt  or  dispute.  The  difference  between  sandy 
loam,  ordinary  loam,  and  clay  loam,  are  not  always 
readily  recognized  by  outward  appearances.  It  is 
not,  however,  a  diflBicult  task,  even  for  the  novice  in 
such  matters,  to  determine,  by  simple  tests,  the 
percentage  of  the  principal  substances  contained  in 
any  given  soil;  at  least,  near  enough  for  all  practi- 
cal purposes,  and  thus  be  enabled  to  correctly  tell 
the  class  to  which  that  particular  soil  belongs. 

I  will  tell  how  I  made  a  soil  analysis  of  this  kind 

a  short  time  ago.    The  soil  to  be  examined  was 

what  I  supposed  to  be  a  clay  loam,  well  provided 

with  humus  (organic  matter).     I  happened  to  have 

a  pair  of  sensitive  laboratory  scales  on 

Soi?TM  *     liand,  but  my  supply  of  weights  being 

limited  to  an  aggregate  of  about  250 

grains,  I  was  compelled  to  take  two  grains  as  weight 

unit,  although  for  the  sake  of  greater  accuracy,  I 

would  have  preferred  a  unit  of  ten  grains. 

At  first  I  weighed  off  200  grains  of  the  soil, 
freshly  taken  up,  moist  but  crumbly,  and  spread 
this  thinly  on  a  sheet  of  paper,  placing  this  upon 
the  grate  of  a  hot  oven  for  an  hour  or  more.  When 
thoroughly  dried,  it  was  then^ggi^weighed,  and 


68  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

gave  159  grains,  the  loss  (forty-one  grains,  or  twenty 
and  one -half  per  cent)  representing  the  amount  of 
moisture  in  the  soil  when  first  taken  up. 

In  order  to  find  the  percentage  of  sand  in  the  dry 
matter,  another  lot  of  fresh  soil  had  in  the  mean- 
time been  dried  in  the  same  way  as  the  first  200 
grains.  I  now  weighed  off  200  grains  of  the  dry 
soil,  and  thoroughly  dissolved  it  in  boiling  water. 
More  water  was  then  added  to  make  the  mixture 
quite  thin,  and  after  a  thorough  stirring,  the  sand' 
was  given  a  chance  to  settle  to  the  bottom  of  the 
vessel,  when  the  muddy  liquid  on  top  was  carefully 
poured  off.  Next,  I  added  more  water,  stirring  as 
before,  and  pouring  off  the  liquid  from  the  sand 
when  settled.  This  process  was  repeated  several 
times,  until  I  had  reason  to  believe  that  the  sand  in 
the  vessel  was  pretty  well  freed  from  the  clay  and 
other  matter.  The  residue  of  sand  was  then  dried, 
put  upon  a  stove-shovel,  and  this  exposed  to  suffi- 
cient (red)  heat  to  free  it  from  any  organic  matter 
possibly  left  in  it.  The  weight  of  clear  sand  was 
then  ascertained,  and  found  to  be  forty  grains,  or 
twenty  per  cent. 

In  order  to  get  at  the  percentage  of  organic  matter, 
another  200  grains  of  thoroughly  dried  soil  was 
weighed  off,  placed  upon  a  stove-shovel,  and  this 
upon  a  bed  of  live  coals  in  the  stove,  until  the  whole 
had  become  red  hot,  and  the  humus,  or  organic  mat- 
ter, was  all  consumed  by  combustion.  The  residue 
was  then  allowed  to  cool,  and  its  weight  ascertained 
to  be  182  grains.  The  loss,  eighteen  grains,  or  nine  per 
cent,  represents  the  organic  matter. 

The  analysis  might  here  be  considered  at  an  end, 
and  sufficient  for  all  practical  purposes.  But  I  also 
desired  to  ascertain  the  percentage  of  lime,  and  for 


SIMPLE   SOIL   TEST.  59 

that  purpose  put  the  182  grains  of  soil,  as  freed 
from  water  and  organic  matter,  into  a  pint  of  water, 
adding  one  half  pint  of  muriatic  acid,  and  stirring 
the  whole  together.  This  was  left  standing  for 
several  hours,  until  bubbles  had  ceased  to  rise  from 
the  bottom.  The  liquid  part  was  then  carefully- 
poured  off,  the  residue  dried  in  a  hot  oven,  and  the 
weight  again  ascertained.  This  was  found  to  be 
176  grains,  indicating  a  loss  of  six  grains,  which  rep- 
resents the  amount  of  lime,  and  equals  three  per 
cent.     Thus  we  have 

Moisture  in  the  fresh  soil,  -  -  20J  per  cent. 

Sand  in  the  dry  soil,         -  -  -     20     "      " 

Organic  matter  in  dry  soil,  -  9     "      " 

Lime  in  dry  soil,  -  -  -       3     "      ♦' 

What  lessons  are  to  be  learned  from  this  ?  First, 
that  this  particular  soil  is  a  rather  strong  clay  loam, 
which  might  be  improved  in  porosity,  warmth  and 
general  manageability  by  addition  of  sandy  matter. 
Second,  that  the  soil  is  very  liberally  supplied  with 
organic  matter,  and  presumably  in  a  fine  state  of 
fertility.  Third,  that  lime  is  not  wanting.  Fourth, 
that  we  might  expect  fair  returns  from  the  judicious 
use  of  concentrated  fertilizers  on  this  soil. 

The  different  classes  of  soils  behave  differently  in 
various  respects,  especially  in  their  relation  to 
change  of  temperature,  and  in  their  capacities  of 
absorbing  and  holding  moisture.  Sand  both  heats 
and  cools  off  quicker  than  loam;  this  quicker  than 
clay;  and  this  quicker  than  peat  or  muck.  As  a  rule, 
dark- colored  soils  absorb  heat  quicker,  and  are 
consequently  warmer  in  the  day,  but  also  cooler 
in  the  night,  than  light- colored  ones. 

Of  all  soils,  pure  sand  has  the  least  capacity  for 
absorbing  moisture  from  the  air,  as  well  as  for  hold- 


60  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

ing  water  once  taken  up.  This  power  increases  in 
any  soil  with  the  proportion  of  clay,  and  still  more 
with  that  of  organic  matter  in  it.  Peat,  and  muck 
absorb  and  hold  great  quantities  of  moisture,  and 
this  sponge-like  character,  while  too  prominent  to 
be  entirely  desirable  in  such  soils  themselves,  ren- 
ders them  valuable  as  an  addition  to  sandy  soils  for 
the  purpose  of  increasing  their  absorptive  and  re- 
tentive capacities. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  quality  of  clay  is  its 
power  of  absorbing  plant  foods,  such  as  phosphoric 
acid,  potash,  ammonia,  lime,  etc. ,  and  holding  them 
for  the  use  of  plants.  Hence  soils  of  a  somewhat 
clayey  character  can  usually  be  kept  in  fertile  con- 
dition much  more  easily  than  soils  that  are  com- 
posed mostly  of  sand. 


ELEVENTH  CHAPTER. 


THE    SOIL  AS  CHEAPEST    SOURCE  OF 
PLANT  FOOD. 


"DESIDES  the  chief  constituents  named  in  pre- 
ceding chapter,  the  average  soil  also  contains 
smaller  amounts  of  a  number  of  other  substances, 
especially  iron  in  the  form  of  oxide  of  iron,  magne- 
sia, soda,  sulphuric  acid,  chlorine,  and  the  great  in- 
dispensables — potash  and  phosphoric  acid.  The 
percentages  of  any  of  them  may  be  large,  and  of 
some  only  small  fractions,  or  even  mere  traces,  yet 
the  aggregate  amounts  contained  in  an  acre  of  good 
arable  soil,  one  foot  in  depth,  are  considerable. 
The  weight  of  these  43,560  cubic  feet  of  soil,  when 
dry,  will  be  in  the  neighborhood  of  4,000,000 
pounds,  and  in  these  there  may  be  30,000  to  40,000 
pounds  of  nitrogen,  25,000  pounds  of  potash,  15,000 
pounds  of  phosphoric  acid,  not  to  mention  the  sub- 
stances of  minor  importance  to  us.  These  are 
enormous  quantities.  The  virgin  soil  in  fertile  sec- 
tions is  often  chockfull  of  plant  foods,  and  while 


62  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

the  most  of  it  exists  in  fixed  combinations,  and  is 
not  immediately  available,  yet  there  is  enough  of  it 
thus  ready  for  the  use  of  plants,  or  becomes  so  in 
the  course  of  time,  to  produce  the  most  luxuriant 
plant  growth  year  after  year  for  a  long  period,  per- 
haps for  generations.  At  first  the  crops  are  such  as 
not  to  be  equalled  on  soils  having  been  long  in 
cultivation  even  with  heaviest  manuring.  Then 
gradually  the  yields  become  smaller,  as  the  avail- 
able plant  foods  are  removed  from  the  soil,  year 
after  year;  and  unless  the  stock  is  replenished,  the 
soil  must  after  a  while  become  exhausted, ''worn- 
out,"  and  unproductive.  The  reduced  stock  of  the 
plant  foods  is  not  rendered  available  any  more  as 
fast  as  the  plants  need  it  for  the  production  of  pay- 
ing crops.  In  place  of  the  original  soil,  capable  of 
producing  forty  or  fifty  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre, 
and  other  crops  in  proportion,  and  all  this  without 
the  aid  of  costly  applications  of  manures,  we  now 
have  a  piece  of  land,  that  unaided,  will  give  us  a 
yield  of  eight  or  ten  bushels  of  wheat,  and  not  more 
than  double  that  amount  at  best,  provided  we  sup- 
plement its  natural  stores  with  an  additional  five 
or  six  dollars'  worth  of  plant  food. 

I  have  drawn  this  comparison  for  the  purpose  of 
calling  attention  to  the  great  value  of  the  stores  of 
plant  food  in  fertile  soil.  If  we  buy  an  acre  of  rich 
land,  we  buy  with  it  at  least  20,000  pounds  of  nitro- 
gen, 12,000  pounds  of  potash  and  6,000  pounds  of 
phosphoric  acid,  which  if  we  had  to  purchase  it  in 
fertilizers  at  lowest  whplesale  rates,  would  cost  us  no 
less  than  $2,000.  Such  soil,  wherever  found,  is  in 
itself  a  rich  mine,  and  worth  money.  The  purchaser 
can  afford  to  pay  $100  or  $200  an  acre  for  it  much 
better  than  ten  or  twenty  dollars  an  acre  for  soil 


VALUE   OF   RICH   SOIL  63 

deprived  of  most  of  its  original  store  of  plant  food. 
If  any  element  of  plant  nutriment  can  be  purchased 
at  a  cheaper  rate  than  in  rich  soil,  at  ordinary  prices, 
I  have  yet  to  learn  of  it. 

Suppose  this  rich  land  is  bought  at  $300  an  acre. 
The  money  is  safely  invested,  and  well  secured. 
Heavy  interest  is  paid  from  the  very  beginning. 
Success  begins  with  the  first  crop  It  will  take  little 
effort  and  comparatively  slight  expense  to  keep 
good  soil  permanently  in  a  fine  state  of  fertility, 
and  the  owner  on  the  road  to  prosperity. 

The  tiller  of  the  poor  soil  on  the  other  hand  starts 
in  with  an  annual  loss,  and  only  good  management, 
and  liberal  use  of  plant  foods  enables  him  to  reduce 
this  loss  from  year  to  year,  and  continuing  thus, 
turn  it  to  profit  after  many  years'  efforts.  If  he  be 
not  a  good  manager,  the  loss  will  be  permanent,  and 
the  land  not  any  better  at  the  end  than  at  the  begin- 
ning of  his  period  of  management. 

Some  of  the  old  market  gardens,  near  the  cities, 
have  been  turned  into  manure  themselves  by  the 
abundant  dressings  of  composts  they  have  been 
given  year  after  year.  The  plant  foods  contained 
in  one  acre  of  such  soil,  if  they  were  to  be  purchased 
in  the  form  of  commercial  manures,  would  be  worth 
more  than  $3,000.  Of  course,  these  old  market  gar- 
dens can  not  be  bought  for  a  song;  but  their  value 
is  not  alone  in  the  plant  foods  they  contain,  but 
also  in  their  proximity  to  the  market.  A  good  mar- 
ket alone  may  add  $2,000  or  more  to  the  value  of  an 
acre  of  land  in  the  near  vicinity. 

All  this,  however,  is  a  little  foreign  to  my  subject. 
My  aim  was  to  call  attention  to  the  great  advantages 
found  in  fertile  soil,  and  to  warn  against  the  pur- 
chase of  worn-out  land.     The  latter,  even  if  worth 


64  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

its  price,  is  not  often  worth  the  effort  and  labor  and 
manure  necessary  to  grow  a  crop  on  it.  To  make  it 
productive  and  profitable  is  up-hill  business.  The 
*' cheap  land"  bait  leads  into  a  dangerous,  and 
usually,  fatal  trap.  Don't  throw  your  life  away  on 
poor  soil!  Fight  shy  of  the  worn-out  farms!  One 
acre  of  soil  possessing  the  great  reserve  stores  of  the 
essential  plant  foods,  is  worth  ten,  yea  twenty  acres 
of  soil  that  in  its  natural  condition  will  yield  only, 
six  or  eight  bushels  of  wheat  per  acre,  or  other  crops 
in  proportion.  Be  sure  to  begin  right.  You  may  be- 
gin small.  A  small  farm  is  safer  to  begin  with  than 
a  large  one;  but  let  the  soil  be  fertile.  You  will 
seldom  be  able  to  purchase  plant  food — the  raw  ma- 
terials you  need  for  the  production  of  paying  crops 
— in  a  cheaper  form  than  when  already  mixed  with 
the  soil. 


TWELFTH  CHAPTER. 


THE  ESSENTIAL  PLANT  FOODS  AND  THEIR 
TRADE    VALUES. 


TN  OUR  lists  of  elementary  bodies  and  simple 
compounds  we  find  only  three  about  which  we 
have  occasion  to  worry  to  any  considerable  extent. 
These  are  nitrogen,  potash  and  phosphoric  acid. 
All  the  rest  are  generally  provided  in  greater  abun- 
dance in  any  soil  than  needed  for  the  fullest 
development  of  the  plants.  Any  application  of 
manure,  or  fertilizers  of  any  kind,  is  made  for  no 
other  purpose  than  to  provide  our  growing  crops 
with  one,  or  two,  or  all  three  of  these  substances, 
and  even  in  case  of  application  of  lime,  plaster,  salt, 
etc.,  which  in  themselves  contain  no  plant  foods,  our 
object  is  usually  in  the  direction  of  freeing  one  or 
the  other  of  these  nutrients  from  the  grasp  of  other 
substances  with  which  they  have  formed  insoluble 
compounds  in  the  soil. 

Speaking  of  nitrogen,  it  may  be  well  to  call  par- 
ticular attention  to  its  relation  with  ammonia. 
Writers,  dealers  in  fertilizers,  and  growers,  are  in 


66  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

the  habit  of  speaking  of  ammonia  as  one  of  the  chief 
plant  foods.  We  have  seen  that  ammonia  is  the  com- 
pound hydrogen-nitrogen, each  seventeen  pounds  of  it 
containing  fourteen  pounds  of  the  nitrogen, which  we 
want,  and  three  pounds  of  hydrogen,  which  we  care 
little  about.  As  an  element  of  plant  food,  therefore, 
it  were  much  better  if  we  would  confine  ourselves  to 
the  proper  term,  nitrogen,  rather  than  make  a  con- 
fusing mess  of  it  by  wrongfully  substituting  for  it 
the  name  of  the  compound  ammonia,  as  is  so  often 
done  in  common  farm  parlance.  In  older  works, 
and  occasionally  in  the  columns  of  our  farm  papers, 
we  come  across  the  term  "potential  ammonia."  This 
means  the  amount  of  ammonia  which  the  nitrogen, 
in  whatever  form  it  appears,  might  produce  by  fer- 
mentation. I  think  we  should  dispense  with  the 
term  altogether.  Fertilizer  manufacturers,  in  giving 
the  legally  demanded  analysis  on  outside  of  bags, 
often  prefer  to  give  the  percentage  of  ammonia 
rather  than  in  nitrogen.  It  may  give  a  better  show- 
ing to  pat  it  five  per  cent  ammonia  instead  of  four 
per  cent  nitrogen;  but  the  only  proper  way  to  put  it 
would  be,  "four  per  cent  nitrogen  in  ammonia"  (or  in 
nitrates,  as  the  case  may  be),  or  leave  out  the  source 
or  form  entirely,  and  simply  say,  "four  per  cent 
nitrogen."  Then  we  know  something  about  what  we 
have  before  us. 

Before  going  into  the  open  market  to  look  up  our 
sources  of  supply,  we  should  learn  something  of  the 
character  of  the  goods,  and  of  the  prices  at  which 
they  may  be  purchased.  These  prices  are  subject 
to  fluctuations,  as  are  those  of  other  articles  of  com- 
merce, according  to  the  disposition  of  the  individual 
dealer,  but  chiefly  in  obedience  to  the  laws  of  sup- 
ply and  demand.     In  recent  years  the  tendency  of 


PRICES   OF   PLANT   FOODS. 


67 


the  prices  of  plant  foods  has  in  the  main  been  down- 
ward, and  favorable  to  the  user.  The  recent  dis- 
coveries of  new  and  extensive  deposits  of  phosphates 
in  Florida  and  other  points,  and  other  circumstances, 
lead  me  to  hope  for  a  further  reduction  in  the  price 
of  such  phosphates,  and  perhaps  also  of  nitrogen. 

Some  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Stations 
occasionally  get  together,  and  agree  on  a  "  Schedule 
of  valuations"  of  plant  foods,  to  serve  as  a  basis  for 
the  determination  of  the  value  of  any  given  fertili- 
zer for  a  certain  period  of  time.  The  rates  thus 
agreed  upon,  however,  often  are  considerably  at 
variance  with  the  manufacturers'  actual  average 
retail,  prices.  A  comparison  of  these  with  the 
stations'  schedule  of  prices,  both  for  the  year  1890, 
is  given  in  the  following 

TABLE  OF   values: 


Average  Re- 

Valuation 

SUBSTANCE. 

tail    Price    of 
Manufacturers 

adopted  for  1890 
by    Stations 

per  pound. 

per  pound. 

cts. 

cts. 

Nitrogen  from  nitrate  of  soda, 

14.2 

14i 

"          "    ■  sulphate  of  ammonia, - 

16.9 

17 

"          "     dried  blood,     - 

16.0 

17 

"      dried  fish  and  ammonite, 

14.1 

17 

"          "      cotton    seed    meal    and 

castor  pomace,           .        -        -        . 

12.8 

15 

Soluble  phosphoric  acid  from  bone  black. 

6.7 

8 

"       "     8.  C.  rock, 

5.6 

8 

Reverted      "             *•       "    bone  black. 

6.7 

8 

"       "    S.  C.  rock, 

56 

8 

Insoluble      "             "       "    bone  black. 

17 

2 

"            "             ••       "     8.  C.  rock, 

1.4 

2 

Potash  from  high-grade  sulphate. 

55 

6 

♦'     kainit,         .        .        -        . 

5.0 

4i 

"        "      muriate, 

4.2 

4i 

An  inspection  of  the  prices  in  the  above  table 
shows  us  that  the  market  and  the  stations  look  at 


68  PRACTICAL    FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

the  value  of  fertilizing  materials  from  different 
standpoints.  The  dealer  fixes  the  price,  indepen- 
dent of  the  agricultural  value  of  the  article,  with  a 
view  of  making  sales  at  a  fair  profit.  The  laws  of 
supply  and  demand  rule  the  market,  and  conse- 
quently the  prices  of  the  various  substances  of  plant 
food  not  only  fluctuate  quite  considerably,  but  there 
is  also  a  wide  difference  between  the  prices  of  the 
same  element  as  coming  from  different  sources. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  stations — and  with  them 
the  farmers — look  only  at  the  real  fertilizing  value 
of  each  substance,  independent  of  the  source  from 
which  it  was  obtained,  or  the  price  asked  for  it  by 
the  dealer.  If  a  pound  of  nitrogen  in  sulphate  of 
ammonia  is  worth  eighteen  and  one-half  cents,  a 
pound  in  any  other  form,  which  would  give  us  the 
same  results,  as  it  did  in  the  other  form,  should  be 
given  the  same  valuation,  even  if  the  dealer  asks  a 
cent  or  two  less  for  it.  So  it  is  with  phosphoric  acid. 
If  soluble  or  reverted  on  one  side,  or  insoluble  on 
the  other,  it  will  give  us  the  same  practical  results, 
pound  for  pound  respectively,  whether  it  is  in  the 
form  of  bone  black,  or  of  South  Carolina  rock; 
hence  the  agricultural  value  must  be  the  same  in 
either  case,  no  matter  how  the  price  of  the  different 
forms  may  vary  in  the  open  market. 

The  stations'  schedule  give  us  a  fair  measure  of 
comparative  values,  in  an  agricultural  or  practical 
sense.  A  comparison  of  market  prices  of  fertilizing 
materials  with  the  values  as  adopted  by  the  stations 
will  give  us  a  clue  to  the  solution  of  the  problem, 
in  what  shape  we  may  purchase  our  fertilizers  most 
economically. 

It  hardly  needs  to  be  said  that  the  latest  schedule 
of  values  should  in  all  cases  be  made  to  serve  as  a 


TEADE  VALUES   OF  PLANT  FOODS.  69 

basis  of  compilation.  The  valuations  given  in  this 
work  are  based  upon  the  prices  found  in  the  follow- 
ing table,  viz.: 

SCHEDULE  OF  TRADE  VALUES  FOR  1891: 

Per  lb. 
Nitrogen  in  Ammonia  Salts,  -  .  _  .  Ig^c. 

'•       '*  Nitrates,                  -           .           .           .           .  i4|c. 

Organic  Nitrogen  in  dried  and  fine  ground  fish,  meat  and  blood,  15^0. 

"             "        "  castor  pomace  and  cotton-seed  meal,     -  15c. 

"             "        "  fine  ground  bone  and  tankage,          -  15c. 

"             "        *•  fine-medium  bone  and  tankage,              -  12c. 

"        "  medium  bone  and  tankage,    -           -  9ic. 

"            "        "  coarser  bone  and  tankage            -           -  7ic. 

"             "        "  horn  shavings,  hair  and  coarse  fish  scrap,  7c. 

Phosphoric  Acid,  soluble  in  water,     -           -           -           -  8c. 

"      "  ammonia  citrate,*               -  8c. 

insoluble  in  dry  ground  fish,  fine  bone  and  t'k'ge,7c. 

"        "  fine-medium  bone  and  tankage,  5^c. 

"        "  medium  bone  and  tankage,  4^c. 

"        "  coarser  bone  and  tankage,  3c. 

*  *        "in  fine  ground  rock  phosphate,  2c. 

Potash  as  High-Grade  Sulphate,  and  informs  free  from  Muriates 

(or  Chlorides),             _           .           .           -  5^0. 

asKainit,    ------  4ic. 

as  Muriate,        -           -           -           -           -  .  4ic. 

*  1}4  cents  for  Massachusetts,  Connecticut  and  Pennsylvania. 


THIRTEENTH  CHAPTER. 


THE  WORTH  OF  DOMESTIC  MANURE. 


/^UR  MOST  important  source  of  plant  foods,  next 
^^  to  the  soil  itself,  is  barnyard  or  stable  manure. 
This  is  a  complete  fertilizer,  i.  e.,  one  supplying  all 
the  needed  elements  of  plant  nutrition,  in  distinc- 
tion from  manures  having  only  one  or  two  of  the 
three  essential  substances. 

The  value  of  stable  manure  is  a  somewhat  uncer- 
tain quantity — very  much  like  that  of  a  pound  of 
beefsteak,  which  may  be  from  the  round,  and  sell 
for  eight  or  ten  cents,  or  porter-house,  and  com- 
mand twenty-five  cents.  The  purchaser' s  own  good 
judgment  must  in  each  case  give  the  final  decision 
concerning  the  price  he  can  aif ord  to  pay. 

The  large  range  in  the  value  of  stable  manure 
owing  to  different  ways  of  feeding,  to  the  state  of 
preservation  of  the  manures,  and  perhaps  other 
causes,  accounts  for  the  wide  variations  found  in 
the  analysis  and  valuations  of  such  manures  given 
by  the  different  Experiment  Stations  and  agricul- 
tural chemists.  The  amount  of  the  three  chief  sub 
stances  of  plant  food  contained  in  a  ton  of  yard 


VALUE   OF   STABLE   MANURE.  71 

manure  is  variously  stated  to  be  from  eight  to 
twelve  pounds  nitrogen,  seven  to  ten  pounds  potash, 
and  four  to  nine  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid. 

A  ton  of  fresh  manure,  consisting  of  the  dry  ex- 
crements of  fairly-fed  working  horses  and  a  little 
urine-soaked  straw,  contains  about  ten  pounds  of 
nitrogen,  four  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid,  and  ten 
and  one-half  pounds  of  potash. 

While  we  have  no  means  of  knowing  in  what  ex- 
act degrees  of  solubility  or  availability  the  nitrogen, 
phosphoric  acid  and  potash  exists  in  stable  manure, 
we  may  well  suppose  that  all  these  plant  foods  will 
be  utilized  by  our  crops  to  the  full  extent  that  they 
are  in  our  best  concentrated  fertilizers,  only  perhaps 
in  a  somewhat  longer  period.  Consequently  I  feel 
justified  in  rating  them  pretty  high. 

At  present  prices  of  commercial  fertilizing  sub- 
stances the  value  of  a  ton  of  this  fresh  horse  manure 
may  be  computed  as  follows,  viz. : 

10    pounds  nitrogen  @  17  cents,  -  -  -  $1.50 

4         • '      phosphoric  acid  @,  7  cents,  -  -  28 

10^       "      potash  @  4  cents,        .  .  -  42 

Total, $2.20 

When  we  buy  from  manufacturers  of  concentrated 
fertilizers  the  same  quantities  of  plant  foods  con- 
tained in  the  ton  of  fresh  horse  manure,  we  would 
perhaps  have  to  pay  three  dollars  for  them. 
Hence  if  we  can  get  a  ton  of  fresh  horse  manure  of 
the  described  quality  at  $2.20,  or  less,  without  having 
to  incur  additional  expense  for  hauling  it,  we  make 
a  better  bargain  than  if  we  buy  the  average  manu- 
factured fertilizer  at  current  rates. 

Fresh  cow  manure  varies  but  slightly  from  fresh 
horse  manure  in  chemical  composition.  Hog  and 
sheep  manure  may  have  a  somewhat  larger  percent- 


72  PRACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

age  of  nitrogen,  and  perhaps  also  of  phosphoric  acid, 
but  a  smaller  one  of  potash.  On  the  whole  we  will 
not  be  far  out  of  the  way,  if  we  concede  to  all  these 
manures,  when  fresh,  about  an  equal  money  value, 
ton  for  ton.  Dry  straw  also  differs  but  little  from 
fresh  manure  in  composition  and  fertilizing  value. 
If  used  freely  for  bedding,  and  soaked  through  with 
urine,  it  will  not  lessen  the  value  of  the  manure. 
Clear  water  adds  to  the  weight,  but  nothing  of  fer- 
tilizing value,  while  urine  adds  also  to  the  stock  of 
nitrogen  and  phosphoric  acid. 

A  heap  of  stable  manure  contains  at  no  time  a 
greater  amount  of  plant  foods  than  when  first  made. 
Nothing,  so  far  as  real  fertilizing  value  is  concerned, 
can  be  gained  by  storing  or  composting  the  manure. 
You  may  get  it  finer,  and  in  better  shape  for  more 
immediate  use  by  the  plants,  but  you  do  not  add  a 
particle  of  value  to  it  by  composting.  If  we  wish 
to  make  use  of  every  pound  of  plant  food  contained 
in  the  fresh  stable  manure,  we  must  draw  it  to  the 
fields  as  fast  as  made,  and  spread  it  at  once. 

In  a  series  of  experiments  made  at  the  Cornell 
University  Experiment  Station  in  1889,  it  was  found 
that  horse  manure,  having  been  left  outdoors  in  a 
loose  pile  for  six  months,  had  at  the  end  of  that 
time  not  only  lost  thirty  per  cent  in  weight,  but 
that  the  resulting  compost  was  reduced  to  the  fol- 
lowing amount  of  plant  foods  per  ton,  viz.: 

9  pounds  nitrogen  @,  17  cents,       -  -  -  $1.53 

8       "       phosphoric  acid  @  7  cents,  -  -  21 

6       "       potash  @  4  cents,  ...  24 

Total,       -  -  -  -  -  $1.98 

The  greatest  loss  through  fermentation  and  leach- 
ing, we  see,  is  in  the  potash,  and  next  in  phosphoric 


VALUE    OF   STABLE    MANURE.  73 

acid,  while  that  in  nitrogen  (contrary  to  the  old 
"escaping  ammonia"  theory)  is  comparatively  slight. 
The  compost,  after  all  these  losses,  is  still  worth 
about  two  dollars,  and  therefore  about  twenty  per 
cent  less,  ton  for  ton,  than  the  fresh  manure.  The 
advantage  of  compost  over  the  fresh  manure,  namely 
its  fine  mechanical  condition,  and  perhaps  the 
greater  availability  of  its  plant  foods,  has  already 
been  mentioned. 

In  deciding  about  the  price  which  the  user  can 
afford  to  pay  for  any  given  sample  of  stable  manure, 
he  will  have  plenty  of  opportunity  for  the  exercise 
of  good  judgment.  Not  only  the  quality  and  value 
of  the  manure  itself,  but  also  the  cost  of  hauling 
must  be  taken  in  consideration.  If  it  costs  us  one 
dollar  to  haul  a  ton  from  place  of  purchase  to  the 
field,  we  must  not  pay  more  than  the  figure  repre- 
senting its  true  value  less  the  dollar. 

In  making  estimates  of  the  manurial  values  of 
stable  manures,  we  may  take  fresh  manure  from 
well-fed  horses  or  cows,  consisting  of  dry  excrement 
and  urine-soaked  litter,  as  a  standard  for  com- 
parison. A  ton  of  such  manure  is  worth,  at  current 
rates  of  plant  food  materials,  in  the  vicinity  of  $2.50, 
and  even  more  when  compared  with  prices  of  our 
commercial  concentrated  fertilizers.  The  higher  the 
animals  were  fed — with  grain,  bran,  oil  meal,  etc. — 
the  more  valuable  is  the  manure.  Animals  that  are 
merely  "wintered" — ^just  kept  alive  on  a  straw  diet 
— give  manure  of  much  less  value  than  animals  that 
are  being  fattened  or  forced.  Straw  soaked  full  of 
rain  or  snow  water,  has  probably  not  over  one-half 
of  the  fertilizing  value  of  good  manure. 

A  ton  of  compost  from  manure  exposed  in  a  loose 
pile  to  the  elements  for  months,  which  in  its  fresh 


74  PRACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

state  had  a  fertilizing  value  of  about  $2.50,  is  still 
worth  about  $2.00;  more,  if  from  highly -fed  animals, 
and  kept  under  shelter,  or  otherwise  well-i^reserved; 
less,  if  spread  in  thin  layer  and  long  exposed  to 
leaching  and  soaking,  or  if  originating  from  straw- 
fed  animals,  or  if  sawdust,  soil  or  sand  has  been  the 
only  bedding  material  used. 

The  price  asked  by  the  seller  of  stable  manures  is 
rarely  regulated  by  the  quality  or  value  of  the 
article  itself,  but  invariably  by  local  conditions  of 
supply  and  demand.  It  is  rarely  the  case,  that  the 
buyer  is  required  to  pay  a  price  approximating  the 
real  value  of  the  article.  Consequently  good  stable 
manure,  where  obtainable,  is  often  or  usually  one  of 
the  very  cheapest  forms  in  which  the  farmer  or  gar- 
dener can  procure  the  plant  foods  needed  for  his 
crops.     Often  one  finds  a  real  bonanza. 

One  of  my  neighbors,  for  instance,  bought  the 
past  season  in  our  immediate  vicinity  100  two-horse 
loads  of  rotted  cow  manure  for  fifty  dollars,  or  at  the 
rate  of  fifty  cents  a  load.  He  told  me  that  he  drew 
nearly  three  tons  to  the  load,  his  span  of  horses 
being  heavy  and  strong,  and  a  rack  being  adjusted 
to  the  wagon  box.  The  plant  foods  in  such  a  fifty- 
cent  load  were  probably  worth  over  five  dollars. 
Seeing  his  advantage  he  has  since  engaged  all  the 
manure  the  party  has  to  sell,  but  there  are  other, 
fully  or  nearly  as  favorable  chances  to  be  found  by 
the  shrewd  manure  buyer  in  many  localities. 

In  some  places  fifty  cents  is  asked  for  a  "load," 
in  others  the  ruling  price  is  one  dollar,  seldom  more, 
but  the  size  of  the  load  is  usually  left  to  the  discre- 
tion of  the  purchaser  who  may  put  on  all  that  his 
horse  or  horses  can  draw.  Here  again  is  consider- 
able latitude  for  good  judgment,  both  in  making  the 


MEASURING   STABLE   MANURE.  75 

bargain,  and  in  loading  and  hauling  the  manure.  If 
a  "load"  is  sold  at  a  certain  price,  with  the  under- 
standing that  "load"  means  all  that  the  buyer's 
team  can  draw,  it  is  the  buyer' s  privilege  to  keep 
strong,  well-fed  horses,  and  well-greased  capacious 
wagons,  and  to  pick  out  a  time  of  good  roads  for  the 
job  of  hauling.  Usually  manure  can  be  bought 
cheaper  by  the  two  or  three  horse  load  than  by  the 
one-horse  load,  for  the  one  horse  draws  half  wagon 
and  half  manure,  while  each  additional  horse  con- 
centrates his  strength  upon  pulling  manure. 

How  can  the  manure  be  measured?  The  manure- 
buying  farmer  is  usually  an  expert  in  estimating 
the  weight  of  his  load.  A  span  of  ordinary  1,000  lb. 
horses,  as  usually  kept  in  our  rolling  sections,  and 
on  roads  by  no  means  too  good,  can  just  handle  a 
2,000  lb.  load  on  wheels  with  comparative  ease,  while 
two  tons  or  over  are  not  too  much  for  heavy  horses 
on  smooth,  nearly  level  roads.  More  can  be  loaded 
and  easily  hauled  on  good  sleighing. 

The  bulk  of  the  manure  must  of  course  be  the 
chief  guide  in  estimating  its  weight.  A  cord  of 
average  barnyard  manure  (128  cubic  feet)  weighs 
about  4,500  pounds,  so  that  a  ton  of  such  manure 
contains  about  fifty-seven  cubic  feet.  To  estimate  the 
weight  of  a  pile  of  manure,  multiply  the  figures 
representing  average  length,  width  and  height,  and 
divide  by  fifty-seven.  This  will  give  you  the  num- 
ber of  tons  in  the  heap.  A  wagon  or  sleigh  box 
twelve  feet  long  and  three  feet  wide,  loaded  with 
manure  nearly  two  feet  high  (allowing  for  loose 
packing)  contains  a  good  plump  ton— more,  if  the 
manure  is  wet  and  compact,  less  perhaps,  it  consist- 
ing largely  of  dry  coarse  litter. 

In  the  computation  of  the  commercial  value  of 


76  PRACTICAL    FAK.M    CH  KM  I'S'J  UV 

Stable  manure,  no  account  could  be  taken  of  the 
carbon  in  it.  Yet  this  constituent  gives  a  great 
additional  advantage  over  concentrated  or  chemical 
manures,  which  supply  the  three  essential  plant 
foods,  bnt  have  not  the  beneficial  mechanical  effect 
to  be  observed  from  the  decomposition  (slow  com- 
bustion) of  the  carbonaceous  matter  contained  in  the 
barnyard  manures. 

Not  all  farmers,  however,  have  such  golden  oppor- 
tunities of  purchasing  manures  at  rates  such  as 
named.  The  rest  may  have  to  patronize  the  manu- 
facturers or  mixers  of  concentrated  manures,  or  they 
may  become  manufacturers  of  fertilizers  themselves, 
by  keeping  and  raising  more  stock — cows,  sheep, 
hogs,  poultry,  etc. — at  the  same  time  making  a 
home  market  for  a  large  share  of  their  products, 
since  high  feeding  is  as  necessary  a  condition  of  suc- 
cess in  this  branch  of  agriculture,  as  high  cultiva- 
tion is  in  profitable  grain  and  fruit  farming. 

Next    to  ordinary  stable  or  barnyard  manure, 

poultry  droppings  may  justly  be  considered  the  most 

important  of  the  domestic  farm  fertilizers. 

Manure  ^  ^^  ^^  receipt  of  more  inquiries  con- 
cerning the  value  of  poultry  manure, 
than  concerning  that  of  any  other  fertilizer,  wood 
ashes  perhaps  excepted.  At  the  same  time  there  is 
a  good  deal  of  rubbish  written  about  its  great  value, 
and  its  caustic  nature,  and  so  forth,  so  that  people 
have  largely  overestimated  its  strength,  and  become 
afraid  to  apply  one  quarter  of  a  fair  ration  for  fear 
of  hurting  the  crops. 

Poultry  droppings,  like  other  yard  manures,  vary 
greatly  in  value,  according  to  kind  and  amount  of 
feed  given  to  the  fowls,  and  the  treatment  given  to 
the  droppings.     A  fair  average  sample  of  the  ma- 


VALUE   OF   POULTRY   MANURE.  77 

terial  (allowed  to  accumulate  under  the  sheltered 
roosts,  and  mixed  with  the  little  dry  soil  or  coal 
ashes  used  as  absorbent)  contains  about  eighteen 
pounds  of  nitrogen,  twelve  pounds  of  phosphoric 
acid,  and  eight  pounds  of  potash  per  ton.  In  com- 
puting the  approximate  value  of  the  article,  we  have 

18  pounds  nitrogen  @,  17  cents,  -  -  $3.06 

12      "       phosphoric  acid  @,  7  cents,  -  84 

8      "       potash  @  4  cents,  .  -  -  32 

Total,  per  2000  lbs.,  -  -  -  $4.22 

Compared  with  the  price  of  the  best  commercial 
fertilizers,  this  quality  of  hen  manure  will  have  an 
agricultural  value  of  nearly  five  dollars  per  ton, 
and.  other  samples,  if  dry  and  well  kept,  may  be 
worth  still  more.  The  buyer  of  fertilizers  can  well 
afford  to  pay  twenty  or  twenty-five  cents  for  each 
100  pounds  of  average  well-kept  poultry  manure. 
If  largely  mixed  with  litter,  soil,  coal  ashes,  etc.,  or 
when  very  wet,  or  when  wood  ashes  were  freely 
used  as  an  absorbent,  so  that  a  part  of  the  ammonia 
is  driven  off,  its  true  value  may  be  much  less. 

Analysis  shows  poultry  manure  to  be  especially 
rich  in  nitrogen,  and  this  is  in  the  right  shape  to 
become  gradually  available  as  the  plants  may  need 
it.  Therefore  instead  of  mixipg  it  with  other  stable 
manures,  although  this  may  be  a  good  practice  for 
ordinary  farm  purposes,  I  greatly  prefer  to  keep  it 
separate,  and  to  apply  it  for  special  purposes,  for 
instance  as  a  top  dressing  in  the  garden,  for  onions, 
spinach,  celery  plants,  etc. 

At  the  same  time  the  analysis  makes  it  plain  that 
we  need  not  be  so  very  much  afraid  of  applying 
it  pretty  freely,  if  we  apply  it  evenly. 


FOURTEENTH  CHAPTER. 


YALUE    OF    OTHER    DOMESTIC    MANURES. 


<(T  HAVE  an  opportunity  to  buy  unleached  wood 

ashes  at  ten  cents  per  bushel.    Will  it  pay  m^ 

to  draw  it  two  or  three  miles  for  use  as  a  f ertilizer?"^ 

That  is  a  sample  of    the    many  letters    received 

annually  by  editors  and  publishers  of 
Wood  Ashes    agricultural  journals.      It  shows  that 

the  great  value  of  wood  ashes  as  a  fer- 
tilizer is  not  yet  generally  recognized.  Like  farm- 
yard manure,  poultry  droppings,  or  other  manurial 
substances,  different  samples  of  wood  ashes  vary 
very  greatly  in  the  percentage  of  their  manurial 
constituents,  and  consequently  in  their  value.  A 
fair  average  sample  of  home-made  ashes,  made  from 
hickory,  beech,  maple  and  hard  oak,  etc.,  contains 
about  seven  per  cent  of  potash  and  two  per  cent  of 
phosphoric  acid,  and  at  current  retail  prices  of  plant 
foods,  is  worth  as  follows: 

7  pounds  potash  @  5^  cents,  -  -  38i  cents. 

2      "      phosphoric  acid  @,  8  cents,      -  -       16    cents. 

Total,  per  100  pounds,         -  -  54^  cents. 

Or  $10.90  per  ton.     Potash  (which   element  repre- 
sents the  chief  value  of  ashes)  exists  here  in  a 


VALUE   OF    ASHES.  79 

readily  soluble  form,  and  thus  is  immediately  avail- 
able for  plant  food.  This  accounts  for  the  prompt, 
and  often  astonishing  effect  that  applications  of 
wood  ashes  usually  have  upon  plant  growth,  and  jus- 
tifies us  in  placing  the  value  of  this  fertilizer  much 
above  the  result  of  mere  multii)lication  and  addition 
on  the  basis  of  the  analysis.  The  farmer  can  better 
afford  to  pay  fifteen  dollars  per  ton  for  wood  ashes 
answering  the  above  analysis  than  the  usual  rates 
for  almost  any  commercial  fertilizer. 

The  variation  in  quality,  of  course,  must  be  taken 
into  account.  The  value  of  home-made,  hard-wood 
ashes,  preserved  in  best  condition,  is  often  much 
above  fifteen  dollars,  and  if  corn  cobs  are  largely 
used  for  kindling,  or  summer  fuel,  the  ashes  may 
reach  twenty  dollars  per  ton  in  value.  On  the  other 
hand,  by  far  the  greater  part  of  purchasable  wood 
ashes  are  worth  less.  If  made  from  soft  wood,  and 
subjected  to  more  or  less  exposure,  especially  leach- 
ing, etc.,  the  value  of  a  ton  may  not  be  more  than 
five  dollars. 

Leached  ashes  have  rarely  more  than  one  and  one 
half  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid  and  one  per  cent  of 
potash,  and  are  worth  per  100  pounds  : 

li  pounds  phosphoric  acid  @  8  cents,  -  12  cents. 

1        "        potash  @  5i  cents,        -        .    -  -      5i  cents. 

Total,  -  -  -  -  17i  cents, 

or  $3.50  per  ton,  five  dollars  being  about  the  limit 
that  the  farmer  could  afford  to  pay,  and  this  only  if 
near  by.     In  buying  ashes,  especially  in  coming  to 
a  conclusion  concerning  the    question, 
^ABhef      "How  much  can  I  afford  to  pay  for  a 
certain  lot  ?  "  there  is  considerable  lati- 
tude for  the  exercise  of  good  judgment  again.     But 
no  intelligent  person  need  be  deceived.  An  examina- 


80  PRACTICAL  FARM  CHEMISTRY. 

tion  of  the  goods  will  give  some  idea  of  their  quality, 
and  particularly  show  very  plainly  whether  the 
ashes  are  leached  or  not,  wet  or  dry,  etc.  This  with 
a  knowledge  of  the  surrounding  circumstances  (gen- 
erally they  are  known  or  can  be  easily  inquired 
into),  and  especially  of  the  source  of  the  ashes,  will 
be  all  the  evidence  needed  in  the  case.  But  if  I 
could  buy  a  lot  of  unleached  hard- wood  ashes,  of 
average  quality,  at  ten  cents  per  bushel,  or  even' 
at  fifteen  cents,  I  would  not  hesitate  to  buy  all  I 
could  draw,  even  if  I  had  to  go  four  or  five  miles 
after  them. 

Canada  ashes  are  largely  advertised  by  various 
parties.  Sometimes  they  do  not  come  up  to  the  mark. 
More  generally  they  analyze  about  five  and  half 
pounds  of  potash,  and  two  pounds  of  phosphoric 
acid  (more  or  less  of  each — oftener  less  than  more) 
hence  their  value  may  be  estimated  as  follows: 

5i  pounds  potash  @  5|  cents,  -  -  30  cents. 

2        "        phosphoric  acid  @  8  cents,      -  16  cents. 

Total,  per  100  pounds,  •  -  46  cents, 

or  $9.70  per  ton.      We  can  afford  to  pay  about 
twelve     dollars,     perhaps     thirteen     or     fourteen 

dollars  per  ton.   This  is  their  value  for  the 
^Ashet     iiianure-buying    farmer.       The    gardener 

and  fruit  grower  may  sometimes,  for 
special  purposes,  go  even  beyond  the  largest  figures 
named.  There  is  only  one  precaution  which  I  have 
to  add.  Wood  ashes,  under  average  conditions, 
should  not  be  mixed  with  other  manures,  especially 
not  with  poultry  manure.  The  worst  possible 
use  that  could  be  made  of  them  is  to  scatter  them 
under  the  roosts  in  the  poultry- house.  A  mix- 
ture of  the  two  substances  without  the  free  use 
of  soil  or  other  absorbents,  can  only  serve  to  reduce 


COAL    ASHES.  81 

the  value  of  both.  The  potash  of  the  ashes  (then  in 
the  most  available  form)  tears  the  ammonia  of  the 
manure  from  its  combination,  changes  itself  to  a 
less  desirable  form,  and  the  ammonia  to  the  volatile 
carbonate  of  ammonia — and  away  this  latter  goes, 
lost  to  the  owner,  and  working  mischief  among  the 
fowls  roosting  just  above  where  the  injurious  vapors 
are  generated.  Unless  you  have  a  special  object  in 
view,  always  apply  the  ashes  to  the  soil,  unmixed. 
The  ashes  of  both  soft  and  hard  coal  contain  little 
more  than  traces  of  potash  and  phosphoric  acid, 
and  as  plant  food  are  probably  worth 
considerably  less  than  fifty  cents  per 
ton.  For  stiff  clay  soils,  however,  they  usually  have 
a  desirable  loosening  effect,  and  as  a  top  dressing 
and  mulch,  especially  in  fruit  gardens,  etc.,  they 
are  very  beneficial.  Still,  I  think  the  best  use  that 
can  be  made  of  them  is  to  sift  and  put  them  under 
the  hen-roosts  as  absorbents,  or  use  them  in  a  simi- 
lar way  in  stables  or  privies.  Sifted  coal  ashes 
absorb  liquids,  fix  volatile  ammonia,  and  prevent 
offensive  odors. 

Cotton-seed    hull    ashes  are    available  in  many 

sections,  and  not  only  a  most  valuable  and  highly 

concentrated  fertilizer,  but  usually  a 

Hull  Ashes      ^^^5^  cheap  one,  also.     A  fair  average 

of  a  number  of  analysis  gives  to  this 

material  about  twenty-five  per  cent  of  potash  and 

ten  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid.     I  would  make  an 

estimate  of  its  value  as  follows: 

25  pounds  potash  @  5i  cents,      -  -  -  $1371 

10  pounds  phosphoric  acid  @  at  8  cents,      -  -  80 

Total,  per  100  pounds,  -  -  $2.17i 

or  $43.50  per  ton,  and  we  could  well  afford  to  pay 
fifty  dollars  for  it;  and  no  tiller  of  the  soil  should 


82  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

neglect  to  make  liberal  use  of  it,  whenever  it  is 
offered  at  a  lower  rate,  and  needed. 

I  find  a  valuable  addition  to  the  stock  of  domestic 

fertilizing  materials  in  the  results  of  what  has  fitly 

been  termed  the  "  annual  roast  of  rub- 

'^^"EoMt!"^  bish."  The  great  spring  cleaning— in- 
doors and  out — accumulates  a  large 
amount  of  waste  materials,  such  as  brush,  rotten 
wood  and  rails,  chips,  sawdust,  weeds,  leaves,  wet 
straw,  old  bones,  old  boots  and  shoes,  rags,  old 
papers,  old  mortar,  perhaps  oyster  and  clam  shells, 
and  other  unsightly  things,  too  numerous  to  mention^ 
that  have  outlived  their  usefulness.  To  get  rid  of 
all  this  stuff  is  worth  something,  and  it  may  be  dis- 
posed of  in  a  way  both  convenient  and  useful. 

I  practice  the  following  plan:  First  I  select  a  spot 
suitable  for  the  great  autotafe,  usually  back  of  the 
house,  and  far  enough  away  from  the  buildings  for 
safety.  Here  I  lay  a  foundation  of  rotten  rails, 
timbers,  or  anything  of  a  woody  nature  that  is  of  no 
value  for  other  purposes,  and  upon  this  I  start  my 
fire.  The  trimmings  of  the  orchard  trees,  and  bush 
fruits,  etc.,  are  piled  on  next,  until  the  fire  is  going 
briskly.  Then  come  the  yard  rakings  and  the 
house  sweepings,  chips,  wet  sawdust,  corn  cobs,  wet 
leaves,  grass  and  weeds,  with  what  old  bones,  clam 
and  oyster- shells  may  be  on  hand,  or  a  small  quan- 
tity of  lime  stone,  also  wet  straw,  old  sods,  and  any- 
thing else  of  a  similar  nature.  The  rakings  and 
sweepings  are  usually  quite  damp  and  mixed  with 
wet  soil,  etc.,  and  should  be  spread  pretty  evenly 
over  the  roasting  heap  so  that  the  fire  is  merely 
glowing  underneath  an  outside  covering,  not  blazing 
up  in  open  flame. 

The  entire  mass  may  thus  remain  glowing  and 


CLOSET   CONTENTS.  83 

glimmering  away  for  several  days  and  nights,  per- 
haps for  weeks,  and  left  thus  until  the  stuff  is 
wanted  as  a  top  dressing  for  the  garden.  Exposure 
to  air  and  rains  will  slake  the  caustic  lime.  The 
ultimate  result  of  the  cremation  process  is  a  heap  of 
dust-like  material,  consisting  of  ashes,  charcoal  and 
loam,  all  strongly  flavored  with  creosote,  and  for 
that  reason  very  repulsive  to  insect  foes.  This, 
however,  gives  it  only  an  additional  value.  The 
material  has,  of  course,  considerable  potash,  some 
lime,  and  perhaps  phosphoric  acid  (from  the  bones). 

As  ordinarily  managed,  the  matter  deposited  in 

privy  vaults  is  allowed  to  poison  the  air,  soil,  and 

perhaps  the  well-water  to  become  a  stench 

Contents   ^^  ^^^  nostrils,  a  constant  source  of  danger 

to  health,  and  a  nuisance  generally,  while 

it  could  easily  be  rendered  entirely  inoffensive  to 

the  most  sensitive  person  with  the  most  squeamish 

stomach,  and  made  to  add  considerably  to  our  stock 

of  farm  manures. 

The  first  thing  to  do  is  to  stop  digging  vaults,  or 
to  fill  them  up  where  already  dug.  Have  the  privy 
high  and  dry,  in  a  well-protected  situation.  Use 
large  stout  buckets  with  strong  handles  under  the 
seat,  or  still  better  a  wheelbarrow  with  sheet  iron 
box.  A  small  scoopful  of  dry  muck,  dry  loam,  or 
sifted  coal  ashes  should  be  thrown  into  the  recepta- 
cle by  each  person  immediately  after  leaving  the 
seat,  and  the  buckets  or  wheelbarrow  should  be 
emptied  upon  the  compost  heap  regularly  once  or 
twice  a  week.  This  will  increase  the  manure  heap 
quite  considerably  both  in  quantity  and  quality. 


FIFTEENTH  CHAPTER. 


THE  CONCENTRATED  COMPLETE  MANURES. 


/^UR  modern  system  of  cropping  is  taking  the 
plant  foods  from  tlie  soil  much  faster  than  we 
are  able  to  return  them  by  the  application  of  barn- 
yard manure,  hen  droppings,  muck  or  peat,  and  all 
the  other  sources  of  fertility  commonly  within  reach 
of  the  average  farmer.  This  observation,  and  the 
recognized  need  of  a  greater  supply  of  plant  foods 
have  led  to  the  search  for  other  sources,  to  the  impor- 
tation of  various  substances  suitable  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  finally  to  the  manufacture  of  our  modern 
so-called  "  concentrated  commercial "  fertilizers. 

There  is  as  wide  a  difference  between  commercial 
fertilizers  as  there  is  between  sand  and  manure,  or 
between  sugar  and  salt,  or  between  a  tender,  juicy, 
tenderloin  steak  and  the  sole  of  a  old  boot.  Buy- 
ing and  applying  concentrated  fertilizers  promiscu- 
ously, without  having  the  least  idea  what  they  con- 
tain, or  what  the  soil  needs,  is  little  better  than 
taking  chances  in  a  lottery.  While  full  information 
on  all  these  points  can  be  obtained  so  easily,  by  any 


HIGH   GRADE  FERTILIZERS.  85 

farmer  who  desires    it,  there    is  no  need  of  this 
'Agoing  it  blind." 

In  compounding  the  various  concentrated  fertili- 
zers, all  sorts  of  materials  are  made  use  of— fish, 
bone,  blood,  slaughter-house  refuse,  phosphate  rock, 
guano,  potash  salts,  nitrates,  sulphate  of  ammonia, 
and  many  other  things — and  manu- 
High  Grade      facturers  are  always  on  the  lookout 

VB.  Low  Grade       „  ^ ,  .  .,,-,« 

Fertilizers.  lor  everything  available  for  this  pur- 
pose, and  purchasable  at  a  reasonable 
price.  As  a  result  of  all  this,  and  of  different  ways 
of  preparation,  and  different  proportions  in  mixing, 
etc.,  we  have  the  thousand  and  one  different  brands, 
in  different  degrees  of  strength  and  composition, 
for  general  and  special  purposes,  and  of  different 
prices,  from  twenty,  or  less,  to  forty -five  dollars  and 
upwards  per  ton. 

These  fertilizer  men  have  superior  facilities  for 
purchasing,  preparing  and  mixing  the  ingredients, 
and  their  professional  skill  enables  them  to  make 
these  materials  most  readily  available  and  effective. 
At  the  same  time  there  is  competition  enough  that 
we  might  think  it  would  keep  the  selling  price  of 
honest  fertilizers  down  to  within  just  a  little  above 
the  line  where  the  business  barely  pays  its  own  ex- 
penses. One  of  the  prominent  eastern  fertilizer 
manufacturers  recently,  in  public,  declared  his 
willingness  to  give  to  anybody  who  would  guarantee 
him  a  clear  profit  of  two  dollars  per  ton  on  his  goods ^ 
all  the  income  above  that  limit.  This  profit,  even 
though  it  secures  the  company  a  fine  income,  is, 
however,  not  larger  than  the  farmer  can  well  afford 
to  pay  to  the  manufacturer  for  a  high-grade  article. 

But  I  cannot  warn  too  strongly  against  the  low- 
grade,  so-called  * 'cheap"  fertilizers.     They  are  not 


86  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

profitable  to  buy,    especially  if  they  have  to  be 
freighted  any  considerable  distance. 

The  manufacturer  has  to  charge  for  all  the  goods 
that  he  delivers  at  buyer's  nearest  station: 

(1)  Retail  price  of  the  plant  foods,  as  given  in  the 
schedule  of  prices  previously  mentioned. 

(2)  Cost  of  preparing  and  mixing  these  raw  ma- 
terials, and  of  storing  and  handling  the  goods. 

(3)  Cost  of  bags,  barrels,  etc.,  and  putting  up  in 
ship -shape. 

(4)  Freight,  cartage,  etc. 

For  a  number  of  years  I  have  used  a  special 
potato  manure  with  most  gratifying  results.  This 
is  a  ''high-grade"  mixture,  containing  about  four 
per  cent  nitrogen,  twelve  and  half  per  cent  phos- 
phoric acid,  and  six  per  cent  potash.  Now  suppose 
we  wish  to  buy  80  pounds  of  nitrogen,. 250  pounds  of 
phosphoric  acid  and  120  pounds  of  potash,  which  is 
just  about  the  quantity  contained  in  one  ton  of  a 
high-grade  potato  manure.  Computed  at  schedule 
rates,  this  quantity  of  plant  foods,  in  the  form  they 
appear  in  the  potato  manure  (partly  soluble  and 
partly  not),  would  have  a  chemical  value  of  about 
thirty-four  or  thirty-five  dollars.  To  this,  the 
manufacturer  adds  expense  of  handling,  mixing, 
bagging,  carting,  freighting — and  perhaps  some- 
thing for  profit — charging  about  forty-two  dollars 
per  ton,  or  an  advance  of  about  seven  or  eight  dol- 
lars per  ton,  or  somewhat  over  twenty  per  cent  of 
the  value  of  the  raw  materials. 

Another  manufacturer  might  offer  us  a  low-grade 
or  ''cheap"  fertilizer  having  just  one-half  of  the  per- 
centages of  plant  foods  contained  in  this  potato 
manure.  To  get  the  same  quantities  of  the  food 
elements,  two  tons  of  the  cheaper  kind  would  be  re- 


SAFEGUARDS   AGAIJ^ST   IMPOSITION.  87 

quired,  and  the  manufacturer  would  have  to  charge 

(1)  for  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid  and  potash,      -  $35.00 

(2)  mixing,  handling,  bagging,  etc.,  3  tons  @  $7.15    -     15.00 

Total, $50.00 

or  an  advance  on  cost  of  raw  materials  of  over  forty 
per  cent,  and  in  most  cases  still  more.  Besides  this 
you  find  your  own  labor  in  drawing,  handling  and 
application  increased  to  Just  double  the  amount 
needed  for  the  other.  I  think  this  will  show  you 
plain  enough  that  your  only  safety  lies  in  the  use 
of  high-grade  manures  if  you  buy  any  of  them. 
The  cheap  goods  are  too  dear,  after  all. 

Manufacturers  in  eastern  states  are  legally  re. 

quired  to  print  on  each  bag  or  barrel  a  guaranteed 

analysis  of  the  goods  contained  in  it,  if 

Safeguards     they  Sell  at  a  higher  price  than  ten  dol- 

imposition.    lars  per  ton.     Usually  fertilizers  come 

fully  up  to  the  guaranteed  standard, 

and  often  they  go  above  it. 

Before  we  purchase  any  fertilizer,  we  should 
know  its  real  value.  Suppose  we  have  a  brand 
offered  us  under  the  following  guaranteed  analysis, 
as  printed  on  the  bags  or  barrels: 

Nitrogen  in  ammonia,         -  -  -    3  to    4  per  cent. 

Soluble  phosphoric  acid,  -  -         6  to    8  "      " 

Insoluble        "  "        -  -  -    3  to    3   "      " 

Total  "  "  -  -         8  to  11   •'      " 

Potash  (sulphate),  -  -  -    8  to  10   "      " 

Taking  the  lower  figures  as  a  basis  for  our  calcu- 
lation, we  find  in  each  100  pounds  of  fertilizer: 
3  pounds  nitrogen  @  18i  cents,       -  -  -  55i 

6      "        soluble  phosphoric  acid  @  8  cents,  -     48 

2      "        insoluble        "  "     @  2  cents,         -  4 

8      "        potash,  @  5i  cents,     -  -  -  -     44 

Total, $1.5H 

or  in  one  ton  (2000  pounds)  twenty  times  $1.51i,  or 


88  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

$30.20  worth  of  raw  materials.  On  tlie  basis  of 
the  higher  figures,  we  find  in  each  100  pounds: 

4  pounds  nitrogen  @  18^  cent?,         ...  74 

8      "        soluble  phosphoric  acid  @,  8  cents,    -  -      64 

8      "        insoluble       "           "    @  3  cents,           -  6 

10      "        potash  @,  5i  cents,       -           -           -  -      55 

/  Total, $1.99 

/  or  in  one  ton  (2000  pounds)  20  times  $1.89,  or  $39.80. 
Thus  we  see  that  the  value  of  the  raw  materials  in 
such  high-grade  fertilizer  may  vary  between  $30.20 
and  $39.80.  The  goods  of  our  reputable  fertilizer 
firms  usually  come  near  the  higher  figure,  and  in 
many  cases  they  go  even  above  it.  Add  to  this  the 
various  expenses  of  manufacturing  and  selling,  and 
the  price  of  a  fertilizer  with  guaranteed  analyses  as 
the  one  in  consideration  can  hardly  be  expected  to 
be  much  below  forty  dollars  per  ton. 

If  we  examine  a  fertilizer  on  the  packages  of 
which  we  find  guaranteed  analyses  as  follows,  viz: 

Nitrogen,  -  -  -  -  1  to   2  per  cent. 

Available  phosphoric  acid,  -  -     6  to    8   "      •' 

Insoluble  "  "  -  -  2  to    3   "      '* 

Total,  -  -  -  -  -     8  to  10  "      " 

Potash,  -  -  -  -  2to   4   "      " 

we  may  make  the  following  estimate  of  its  chemical 
value  (value  of  the  raw  materials  of  plant  food  at 
retail)  per  100  pounds,  viz.: 

/.  Based  on  lower  figures  of  analyses: 

Nitrogen,  1  pound  @  18^  cents,      .           -  -           18^ 

Phosphoric  acid,  available  6  pounds  @  8  cents,  -     48 

* '             "     insoluble  2  pounds  @,  2  cents,  -             4 

Potash  (probably  muriate)  2  pounds  @  4i  cents,  9 

Total, 79i^ 

or  per  ton,  20x79 J  cts.  equal  to  $15.90.  The  valuation 
on  this  basis  would  perhaps  not  be  fair  to  the 


EXPERIMENT   STATION   ANALYSES.  89 

manufacturer.  Often  the  percentages  reach  and 
even  exceed  the  higher  figures  of  the  analysis. 

2.  Based  on  the  higher  figures: 

Nitrogen  2  pounds  @  181,      -           -           -  -           37 

Phosphoric  acid,  available  8  pounds  %  8  cents,  -     64 

"              "      insoluble  3  pounds  @  2  cents,  -             6 

Potash  4  pounds  @,  4^  cents,        -            -           -  -     18 

Total,  , $1,25 

or  per  ton  20x$1.22,  equal  to  $25.00.  Thus  we  find 
that  its  value  is  somewhat  between  $15.90  and  $26.00, 
probably  near  $20.00.  Such  a  fertilizer  usually 
sells  for  thirty  to  thirty-two  dollars,  although  it 
may  be  dear  at  twenty- five  dollars.  It  certainly  is 
not  a  "high-grade"  manure,  nor  even  a  well-balanced 
one,  and  while  perhaps  suitable  for  soils  which  are 
more  in  need  of  phosphoric  acid  than  of  the  other 
two  substances  of  plant  food,  is  hardly  safe  for  gen- 
eral crops  on  soils  lacking  all  three  substances. 

Of  course,  we  desire  still  safer  guarantees  than 

the  mere  printed  analyses  on  the  bags  and  barrels 

of  fertilizers,  and  such  guarantees  and 

Experiment  f uH  information  generally,  are  at  the 
Analyses.  farmer's  disposal  without  money  and 
without  price,  merely  for  the  asking. 
The  various  state  experiment  stations  forward  free 
to  applicants  in  their  own  state  their  bulletins  con- 
taining, besides  other  valuable  information,  the 
fertilizer  analyses  as  they  are  made  from  time  to 
time  for  the  very  purpose  of  letting  farmers  know 
the  doings  of  fertilizer  manufacturers.  These  analy- 
ses, by  the  way,  are  also  a  most  wholesome  method 
of  supervision  and  to  enforce  honesty  in  compound- 
ing the  manures.  Every  open  fraud  is  soon  detected 
and  shown  up.  The  percentages  of  the  substances 
of  plant  food  in  many,  perhaps  the  majority  of  all 


90  PRACTICAL  FARM  CHEMISTRY. 

manufactured  fertilizers  are  found  to  be  larger  than 
indicated  by  the  makers'  own  printed  analyses. 
Frauds  are  occasionally  attempted,  but  the  intelli- 
gent and  careful  farmer  need  not  allow  himself  to 
be  swindled. 

Some  of  the  experiment  stations,  as  for  instance 
that  of  New  Jersey,  not  only  give  the  analyses  in 
great  detail,  but  also  save  us  the  work  of  figuring 
out  the  values,  etc.,  of  analyzed  fertilizers.  These- 
tables  have  a  column  marked  '*  Value  of  2000 
pounds  at  station  prices."  The  figures  in  this  ex- 
press the  value  of  the  three  substances  of  plant  food 
in  each  fertilizer,  computed  on  the  basis  of  the 
prices  at  which  the  ingredients  could  be  bought  at 
retail  for  cash  in  our  large  markets  (in  the  raw  ma- 
terials which  are  the  regular  source  of  supply). 
The  other  column  gives  us  "the  selling  price  of 
2000  pounds  at  consumer's  depot."  For  this  no 
further  explanation  is  needed. 

From  a  table  of  analyses  found  in  a  recent  bulletin 
of  the  New  Jersey  Experiment  Station,  I  take  the 
following  figures  representing  analyses  of  a  certain 
potato  manure: 

Nitrogen  from  nitrates,       -  -  -  -  0.83 

"        from  ammonia  salts,  -  -  -     1.54 

"       from  organic  matter,       -  -  -  1.89 

"        Total  found,  -  -  -  -   4.26 

•*        Total  guaranteed,        -  -  -        8.69 

Phosphoric  acid  soluble  in  water,        -  -  -     8.96 

«'  *'         "      in  ammonium  citrate,      -  5.82 

••    insoluble,        ...  -     3.85 

"  "    Total  found,       -  -  -       13.12 

"  "    Total  guaranteed, 

"  "    Available,  found,         -  -         9.77 

«•  "  "         Guaranteed,    -  -   8.00 

Potash  found,  -  -  -  -         7.19 

•*       Guaranteed,  -  -  -  -   6.00 

Chlorine, 0.71 


VALUE   OF   FERTILIZERS.  91 

The  next  three  columns  give  the  valuations, 
which,  of  course,  are  subject  to  variations  accord- 
ing to  market  prices  of  the  raw  materials  and 
manufactured  fertilizer,  etc.  In  computing  the 
value  of  the  fertilizer  from  these  figures  we  have 
the  following: 

Nitrogen  from  nitrates  0.83  pounds  @  14i  cents,     ^2*03^  cts. 

from  ammonia  salts  1 . 54  pounds  @  1 8i  cts,  28.49    ' ' 

'  *        from  organic  matter  1 .  89  pounds  @  3  5i  cts,  29. 29i  ' ' 

Phosphoric  acid  soluble  in  water  3. 95  pounds  @  8  cts,  31 .  61    " 

"         "     in  ammonium  citrate  (revert-  " 

ed  5.82  pounds  @  8  cents,         -  -  4656    " 

Phosphoric  acid  insoluble  3.35  pounds  @,  2  cents,  6.70    " 

Potash  (sulphate)  7. 19  pounds  @  5i,       -  -  39.54    " 


Total,  per  100  pounds,  -  -  $K9421i 

or  in  2000  pounds  20x$1.9421i^$38.84yV 

To  this  amount  the  legitimate  expenses  for  mix- 
ing, bagging,  transportation,  etc.,  have  to  be  added, 
so  that  at  present  trade  values  we  cannot  expect  to 
buy  this  fertilizer  at  much  if  any  less  than  forty- 
five  dollars  per  ton. 

In  explanation  of  my  figuring  I  have  yet  to  make 
the  following  statements :  Mtrogen  from  organic 
matter  was  figured  at  eighteen  and  one-half  cents  per 
pound,  in  the  assumption  that  it  was  derived  from 
dry  and  fine-ground  meat  and  blood,  bones,  or 
equally  good  forms  of  animal  matter,  and  not  from 
leather,  shoddy,  hair,  or  any  low-priced,  inferior 
form  of  vegetable  matter.  As  we  have  no  way  of 
telling,  by  analysis,  whether  this  nitrogen  is  readily 
available  for  the  use  of  plants  or  not,  this  assump- 
tion is  largely  a  matter  of  confidence  in  the  integrity 
of  the  manufacturer,  and  based  upon  the  general 
good  results  reported  by  the  users  of  such  fertilizer. 
Reputable  firms,  that  intend  to  do  business  perma- 
nently, cannot  afford  to  use  the  inferior  articles 


92  PRACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

named  as  source  of  organic  nitrogen  in  their  goods. 
Phosphoric  acid  soluble  in  ammonium  citrate  is  the 
so-called  ^'reverted  "  phosphoric  acid.  It  belongs 
to  the  "  available  "  class,  in  so  far  as  plants  readily 
assimilate  it,  and  we  concede  to  it  a  value  of  eight 
cents  per  pound,  same  as  to  phosphoric  acid  solu- 
ble in  water.  Some  stations,  notably  those  of  Mass- 
achusetts, Connecticut  and  Pennsylvania,  only 
consider  it  worth  seven  and  half  cents.  The  insolu- 
ble phosphoric  acid  is  valued  only  at  two  cents  a 
pound,  and  I  think  this  is  all  it  deserves,  although 
some  stations  figure  it  at  three  cents  or  more,  in  the 
assumption  that  it  is  from  bone  or  similar  sources, 
and  worth  more  than  that  from  rock  phosphate. 

The  small  percentage  of  chlorine  shows  the 
potash  source  to  be  sulphate,  worth  five  and  one- 
half  cents  per  pound.  The  peach  tree  fertilizer 
made  by  the  same  firm  has  4.27  per  cent  chlorine. 
Here  we  have  the  potash  evidently  in  the  muriate 
form,  and  for  this  reason  would  value  it  only  at 
four  and  one-half  cents  per  pound.  Chlorine  makes 
the  application  of  excessive  doses  of  muriate 
(chloride)  of  potash  risky  for  many  crops.  Its 
absence  shows  that  a  manure  has  derived  its  supply 
of  potash  from  sources  other  than  muriate;  for 
instance,  from  sulphate,  nitrate,  or  carbonate  of 
j)otash. 

The  analyses  of  fertilizers  published  in  the  station 
bulletins  are  not  all  arranged  exactly  like  those  of 
the  New  Jersey  station.  At  any  rate,  however, 
they  give  us  a  clue  to  the  computation  of  the  approx- 
imate values  of  such  fertilizers. 


SIXTEENTH  CHAPTER. 


WHERE    CAN    WE    GET    OUR    NITROGEN? 


jDESIDES  the  complete  manures  considered  in  the 
foregoing  chapters,  there  are  an  endless  num- 
ber of  other  substances  available  for  manurial  pur- 
poses, and  many  of  these  are  often  a  much  cheaper 
source  of  plant  food,  in  certain  localities,  than  either 
the  city  stable  manure,  or  the  concentrated  manures 
found  in  our  markets.  Some  of  these  substances 
contain  only  a  single  element  of  the  three  chief  ones 
under  consideration,  others  have  a  combination  of 
two,  others  are  perhaps  complete,  but  more  or  less 
one-sided;  and  altogether  there  is  choice  enough,  so 
that  we  can  purchase  just  what  element,  or  combi- 
nation of  elements  we  may  need,  without  having  to 
buy  one  we  do  not  want  or  require 

We  will  try  to  ascertain  the  true  value  of  the 
leading  substances  available  for  these  purposes. 

As  stated  once  before,  tons  and  tons  of  nitrogen, 
in  an  uncombined  and  free  elementary  state,  only 


04  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

mixed  with  oxygen,  rest  upon  every  acre.  This  is 
many  hundred  times  as  much  as  any 

from  theTir.  ^^^P  could  use,  if  it  were  in  the  proper 
form  for  plant  food,  which  it  is  not.  A 
considerable  amount  of  speculation  has  been  wasted 
on  this  subject.  Here  we  have  the  two  elements  in 
greatest  abundance,  which  combined,  are  so  expen- 
sive to  procure,  and  which  are  just  what  our  soils 
need  to  make  them  rich;  and  if  we  could  induce  the 
two  free  elements  to  enter  into  a  chemical  union,  at 
little  cost  to  ourselves,  we  would  have  no  need  of 
going  to  South  America  for  nitrate  of  soda  and  salt- 
petre, nor  be  concerned  about  where  to  get  nitro- 
genous fertilizers.  The  material  is  on  hand,  and 
yet  we  cannot  get  it  in  shape  for  the  use  of  plants. 

There  are  analogous  instances  in  our  relations 
with  chemistry.  In  water  we  have  an  inexhaustible 
supply  of  a  chemical  compound  which,  if  we  could 
but  separate  the  chemical  union,  at  little  cost,  and 
get  the  two  elements,  hydrogen  and  oxygen  in  their 
free,  elementary  state,  would  give  us  fuel  and  light 
much  more  powerful  than  coal  or  gas.  Here  again 
we  have  free  access  to  the  materials,  and  yet  we 
cannot  utilize  them  with  economy,  merely  because 
the  separation  of  the  two  elements  would  require 
the  same  energy  that  they  produce,  and  no  more. 

We  also  know  that  the  chemical  combination  of 
hydrogen,  oxygen,  nitrogen  and  carbon,  in  certain 
proportions,  with  a  little  seasoning  of  sulphur, 
phosphorus  and  other  elements,  gives  us  our  steak 
for  our  breakfast,  the  mutton  chops  or  fish  for  our 
dinner,  and  the  cake  for  our  tea;  and  while  all  these 
elementary  materials  are  plentiful  in  nature,  we 
would  soon  starve  if  we  had  to  depend  on  making 
the  combination  in  an  artificial  way.     It  is  a  pity 


NITROGEN  FROM  THE  AIR.  96 

that  our  knowledge  and  powers  are  so  limited,  but 
we  have  to  take  things  as  we  find  them. 

It  has  been  found,  however,  that  Nature  does  con- 
tribute a  small  amount  to  the  nitrogen  fund  of  the 
soil;  and  this,  although  too  little  for  any  perceptible 
effect  on  our  crops,  is  perhaps  enough  to  slowly  im- 
prove a  poor  piece  of  ground,  when  left  uncropped. 

The  ammonia  escaping  from  different  sources 
diffuses  itself  through  the  atmosphere;  nitric  acid 
is  formed  by  the  electric  spark  passing  through  the 
air  during  thunder  showers.  The  rains  absorb  it 
and  carry  it  down  to  the  ground.  It  is  then  utilized 
by  plant  growth,  or  washed  into  the  streams. 

This  free  contribution  of  nitrogen  from  the  air 
may  help  the  poor  owner  or  tiller  of  poor  soil  to 
continue  his  unprofitable  style  of  poor  farming 
until  it  lands  him  in  the  poor-house;  but  it  is  by 
far  too  miserly  to  be  of  much  use  to  the  good  farmer 
whose  crops  are  provided  with  liberal  rations  of 
nitrogen  by  the  free  use  of  manures,  and  who,  con- 
sequently, has  large  and  paying  yields. 

I  do  not  know  but  what  it  would  be  just  as  well, 
practically,  to  forget  entirely  that  nature  grants  us 
this  pitiful  allowance,  and  to  depend  altogether  on 
our  own  facilities  for  supplying  the  soil  with  the 
needed  nitrogen  in  one  of  the  various  forms  of  ni- 
trogenous manures. 

There  is  one  way,  however,  in  which  we  can  draw 
on  the  nitrogen  supply  of  the  air,  and  make  it  avail- 
able at  least  to  some  extent.  This  is  by  means  of 
clovers  and  other  leguminosse,  which  seem  to  have 
the  power  of  deriving  their  nitrogen  from  the  air, 
when  they  cannot  get  it  from  the  soil  or  subsoil.  Of 
this  I  will  speak  in  a  later  chapter. 

In  nitrate  of  soda  we  probably  have  the  cheapest 


yb  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

source  of  commercial  nitrogen,  and  a  very  valuable 
one  besides.     The  chief  point  from  which 

o??od^a.  *^^^  nitrate  is  obtained  is  Ibique,  Chili. 
There  is  an  export  duty  on  it  of  ten  dol- 
lars per  ton.  Vast  beds  extend  for  two  or  three 
hundred  miles  along  the  west  coast  of  South  Ameri- 
ca. These  beds  are  supposed  to  have  been  formed 
by  decomposing  sea-weed.  It  is  yet  comparatively 
little  used  in  this  country,  and  the  present  demand 
for  it  is  so  limited  that  not  a  pound  of  the  cheaper 
grade — which  strictly  is  the  fertilizer  nitrate — is  im- 
ported to  the  United  States,  while  progressive 
growers  in  Europe  consume  a  hundred  thousand 
tons  or  more  a  year. 

The  nitrate  imported  to  this  country  is  shipped 
in  bags  holding  about  three  hundred  pounds  each. 
A  chemically  pure  sample,  as  we  have  seen  in  Ninth 
Chapter,  or  might  again  figure  out  from  the  chemi- 
cal symbol  Na  NO3  and  the  table  of  atomic  weights, 
(see  page  49)  has  16.47  per  cent  of  nitrogen.  It 
takes  a  pretty  good  sample  of  the  salt  as  imported 
to  give  us  sixteen  per  cent,  or  320  pounds  to  the  ton. 
The  commercial  value  of  this  nitrogen,  at  the 
present  time,  is  fourteen  and  half  cents  per  pound, 
which  would  make  a  ton  worth  $46.60.  It  is  said 
that  the  article  can  be  adulterated — for  instance, 
with  additions  of  white  sand,  or  of  cheap  potash 
salts.  .  But  every  buyer  can  easily  examine  the  stuff 
upon  its  purity.  See  if  it  all  perfectly  dissolves  in 
water.  If  so,  it  is  free  from  sand.  Then  taste  the 
solution,  and  if  this  has  no  distinct  salty  taste,  you 
may  be  sure  there  is  no  cheap  potash  salt  in  it. 

Now,  when  we  are  thus  assured  of  having  the 
genuine  article,  we  may  also  feel  certain  that  every 
ounce  of  this  nitrogen  is  ready  for  immediate  use  by 


NITROGEN   IN   NITRATES.  97 

plants.  We  understand  (or  have  the  means  to  learn 
to  understand)  its  true  nature  and  habits,  and  have 
no  need  of  putting  our  reliance  on  uncertainties  and 
guess  work — a  most  important  advantage,  not  pos- 
sessed by  nitrogen  in  other  forms,  as  in  farm 
manures,  muck,  and  even  in  the  commercial  concen- 
trated fertilizers.  The  chemist  cannot  always  de- 
termine how  much  of  the  nitrogen  in  such  materials 
is  available,  and  how  much  is  not.  The  most  he 
can  do  is  to  tell  us  the  amount  of  ammonia  in  the 
goods,  but  not  whether  any  or  all  of  it  is  in  condi- 
tion to  feed  plants  or  not.  This  is  an  element  of 
uncertainty  which  to  me  is  terribly  annoying.  It 
also  affords  protection  to  the  manufacturer  of  poor, 
but  high-rated  fertilizers,  which  are  making  a  good 
showing  only  in  analysis,  a  protection  which  helps 
him  to  palm  off  low-grade  stuff  on  the  farmer  (who 
buys  it  on  strength  of  its  high  analysis  published  in 
station  reports)  without  fear  of  immediate  detection. 

Whenever  we  wish  to  apply  nitrogen  to  our  crops 
in  the  usual  forms,  we  meet  this  difficulty,  this  ele- 
ment of  uncertainty.  The  use  of  nitrates,  especially 
nitrate  of  soda,  alone  can  deliver  us  from  this  annoy- 
ing and  perplexing  feature.  It  enables  us  to  reckon 
with  definite  figures.  No  sham  or  cheat  about  it. 
We  know  what  we  have  and  apply  it.  For  this 
very  reason  its  uses  gives  us  so  much  satisfaction. 

Another  nitrate  form  of  nitrogen  is  saltpetre,  and 

a  very  valuable  one  besides,  of  quick  and  often 

even  more  marked  effects  than  the  preceding,  but 

too  expensive  for  general  purposes  of 

m^^^^^TZs^,  ^r«P  f^^^i^g-     Saltpetre,  like  nitrate 
of    soda,    is    imported    from    South 
America,  but  nitrogen  is  not  its  only  valuable  con- 
stituent;   it    has   potash   also,    being  a  nitrate   of 


98  PEACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

potash.  The  only  thing  that  might  come  in  consid- 
eration here  is  the  saltpetre  waste  of  gunpowder 
works,  but  this  contains  much  more  potash  than 
nitrogen.  It  analyzes  about  two  per  cent  of  nitro- 
gen, and  twenty  per  cent  of  potash,  and  is  worth  at 
station  prices  almost  $1.50  per  100  pounds  or  $30 
per  ton. 

In  sulphate  of  ammonia  we  have  a  valuable  by- 
product of  the  gas  works.    It  looks  somewhat  like 
fine  salt,  and  not  being  quite  so  ready  to   absorb 
moisture  and  melt  away,  or  to  form  large  solid 
chunks  that  have  to  be  broken  up,  like 

Ammonia.  .^     ,        «       t      .  -,  . 

nitrate  oi  soda,  is  much  more  convenient 
to  keep  on  hand,  or  to  handle,  or  to  mix  with  other 
fertilizing  substances.  I  have  somtimes  used  it  on 
vegetables,  and  often  thought  it  gave  me  just  as 
good  results  as  the  nitrate  of  soda.  An  average 
sample  contains  twenty  per  cent  of  nitrogen,  and 
this  is  rated  in  the  station  schedules  at  eighteen  and 
one-half  cents  per  pound,  so  that  400  pounds  con- 
tained in  a  ton  make  it  worth  $74.5().  Its  nitrogen, 
although  not  as  readily  available,  is  held  by  the  soil, 
and  thus  saved  for  plant  growth,  while  any  excess 
of  nitrogen  in  nitrates  would  at  once  try  to  make 
good  its  escape  down  into  the  soil  water  and  perhaps 
into  the  drains,  to  be  carried  away  to  river  or  sea. 

Among  other  sources  of  nitrogen,  cotton  seed  and 
cotton -seed  meal  are  probably  in  the  front  rank,  es- 
pecially as  these  substances  are  accessi- 
^Mealetc^     ble  to  farmers  in  many  localities  where 
nitrate  of  soda,  sulphate  of  ammonia 
and  similar  nitrogen  compounds    are    either    not 
readily  obtainable  or  too  costly  in  consequence  of 
exorbitant  transportation  charges.    I  admit  that  the 
nitrogen  in  cotton- seed  meal  is  not  quite  as  readily 


CASTOR  POMACE.  9^ 

available  as  that  of  nitrate  of  soda  or  sulphate  of 
ammonia,  but  it  is  in  a  pretty  good  shape.  Besides 
this  element,  cotton-seed  meal  also  contains  a  small 
percentage  each  of  potash  and  phosphoric  acid.  An 
average  of  a  number  of  analyses  concedes  to  it  6.80 
per  cent  nitrogen,  1.35  per  cent  phosphoric  acid,  and 
1 .20  per  cent  potash.  Its  nitrogen  is  rated  by  the 
stations  at  fifteen  cents  per  pound.  One  hundred 
pounds  of  cotton-seed  meal  has  the  following  ferti- 
lizing value,  namely: 

6.30  pounds  nitrogen  @  15  cents,  -  -  $1.02 

1.35        "      phosphoric  acid  @  6  cents,        -  -  08 

1.35       "      potash  @  5  cents,      ...  06 

Total, $1.16 

which  makes  the  ton,  at  station  rates,  worth  $23.20. 
Hence  at  twenty-eight  to  thirty  dollars  per  ton  it 
would  be  about  as  cheap  as  the  ordinary  concen- 
trated fertilizer  at  manufacturer's  prices. 

Castor  pomace  is  very  similar  to  cotton-seed  meal 
in  composition  and  effect.  It  contains  a  little  less 
nitrogen,  however,  and  a  little  more  potash  and 
phosphoric  acid.  Its  value  per  100  pounds  is  about 
as  follows  : 

5.60  pounds  nitrogen,  @  15  cents,  -  -  $0.84 

2.00      "       phosphoric  acid  @  6  cents         -  -  12 

1.40      "       potash  @,  5  cents,      -  -  -  07 

Total,  per  100  pounds,    -  -  -  $1.08 

or  $20.60  per  ton.  We  could  well  afford  to  give 
twenty-five  dollars  per  ton  for  it. 

Linseed  meal  contains  the  three  plant  foods  in 
about  the  same  proportion  as  castor  pomace,  and 
its  schedule  value  does  not  vary  much  from  $20. 

Agricultural  papers  and  their  staff  of  writers  have 
a  curious  habit.    When  asked  by  their  readers  (as 


100  PRACTICAL   FAEM   CHEMISTRY. 

frequently  happens)  about  the  fertilizing  value  of 
oil  meal,  bran,  etc.,  the  answers  usually  and  truth- 
fully state  that  such  materials  are  excellent  fertili- 
zers, and  frequently  can  be  obtained  much  cheaper, 
proportionately,  than  regular  manufactured  concen- 
trated manures.  The  advice,  however,  is  invariably 
added,  to  use  them  as  food  for  cattle  or  other  stock 
first,  and  (what  is  left  after  having  passed  through 
the  stock)  for  plant  food  next.  Animals  assimilate- 
about  twenty  per  cent  of  plant  foods  in  the  meal, 
and  pass  eighty  per  cent  into  the  manure  pile.  If 
the  meal  was  bought  at  a  reasonable  price,  the 
twenty  per  cent  transformed  in  animal  flesh  and 
bone  might  pay  more  than  the  cost  of  the  whole, 
and  the  eighty  per  cent  increase  the  value  of  the 
manure  sufficiently  to  pay  the  cost  of  the  whole  a 
second  time.  This  may  be  good  logic,  but  I  take 
it  for  granted  that  any  farmer  progressive  enough 
to  seek  information  about  the  cheapest  available 
sources  of  plant  food,  with  the  intention  of  drawing 
on  them,  is  also  intelligent  enough  to  feed  his  stock 
properly.  He  already  gives  them  all  that  is  good 
for  them,  and  that  he  is  satisfied  will  keep  them  in 
best  possible  condition  for  his  purposes.  He  crowds 
his  fattening  stock  all  that  he  dares  to.  What 
more  can  he  do  ?  To  stuff  horses,  cattle  and  sheep 
above  what  is  best  for  them,  merely  for  the  sake  of 
making  the  manure  richer,  would  be  the  height  of 
folly.  In  short,  the  inquirer  and  recipient  of  this 
advice  was  in  search  of  plant  food,  not  for  food  for 
his  stock.  Whether  it  is  advisable  for  him  to 
apply  cotton-seed  meal,  linseed  meal,  bran,  etc., 
directly  to  his  soil  or  not,  depends  wholly  on  the 
price  at  which  these  goods  can  be  purchased  in 
your  available  market. 


101 

If  my  soils  needs  nitrogen,  or  the  manure  at  my 
disposal  does  not  contain  as  much  of  the  element 
as  I  think  would  be  desirable  for  my  purposes,  and 
I  can  buy  nitrogen  in  the  form  of  cotton- seed  meal 
cheaper  than  in  any  other  forms  (say  at  twenty  dol- 
lars or  little  more  per  ton),  I  would  not  hesitate  a 
minute  to  apply  it  directly  to  the  soil  broadcast. 
Or,  if  my  land  needs  phosphoric  acid,  and  I  can  buy 
it  cheaper  in  the  form  of  wheat  bran  than  in  any 
other  (say  at  twelve  to  fourteen  dollars  per  ton),  why 
in  the  name  of  common  sense  should  I  refuse  to 
apply  it  ?  The  price  alone  must  decide  this  question. 

People  who  ask  questions  of  this  character  usually 
have  in  view  the  immediate  use  of  the  articles  they 
inquire  about  for  fertilizing  purposes.  They  cannot 
be  expected  to  procure  a  lot  of  stock  to  which  the 
meal  and  bran,  etc.,  might  be  fed,  and  to  go  all 
through  this  slow  process,  and  then  have  for  their 
pains  a  lot  of  raw  manure  which  in  turn  has  to  be 
composted,  etc.  Life  is  too  short  for  all  this.  We 
will  take  the  plant  foods  wherever  we  can  get  them 
the  cheapest,  and  apply  them  for  immediate  use. 

Dried  blood  is  another  important  nitrogenous  fer- 
tilizer. It  often  contains  as  high  as  eleven  per  cent  ni- 
trogen, valued  at  fifteen  and  one -half 

^and'/iih.^'  cents  per  pound.  Besides  this  it  has  a 
few  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid,  and 
altogether  its  valuation  comes  very  near  to  forty 
dollars  per  ton.  It  is  very  effective  and  quick-acting 
manure.  Dried  flesh,  with  twelve  per  cent  nitrogen 
and  two  per  cent  phosphoric  acid,  is  even  more  val- 
uable than  dried  blood,  and  fifty  dollars  is  not  too 
much  to  pay  for  it.  Dry,  ground  fish,  containing 
eight  to  nine  per  cent  nitrogen  and  seven  to  eight 
phosphoric  acid,  is  valued  at  about  $40  per  ton. 


102  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

Horn  and  hoof  shavings  and  waste  are  exceed- 
ingly rich  in  nitrogen,  but  this  is  in  a  less  soluble 
or  available  condition,  and  I  think,  rated  pretty- 
high  even  at  eight  cents  per  pound. 

^wolywl^e^  ^^^  material  contains  from  fourteen 
to  fifteen  per  cent  nitrogen,  and  one 
or  two  per  cent  phosphoric  acid.  Its  fertilizing 
value  is  about  twenty-five  dollars  per  ton. 

Wool  waste  from  woolen  mills  varies  greatly  in 
its  percentage  of  nitrogen,  some  samples  having  as 
high  as  fifteen  or  sixteen,  while  others  have  only 
six  or  seven  per  cent. 

Another  valuable  source  of  nitrogen  is  swamp 
muck,  and  while  available  to  an  unlimited  extent 
on  many  farms  it  is  seldom  appreciated  as  fully  as 
it  deserves.  Its  nitrogen  is  not  immediately  avail- 
able, but  can  be  made  so  by  composting,  and  will 
then  be  worth  as  much  as  that  contained  in  stable 
manure.  This  subject  will  be  more  fully  treated  in 
Nineteenth  Chapter.  It  is  of  sufficient  importance 
to  be  urged  upon  the  farmers'  attention  persistently 
and  forcibly. 

Clover  and  other  leguminosse  as  means  of  gather- 
ing nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere  have  already  been 
mentioned. 


SEVENTEENTH  CHAPTER. 


OUR  SOURCES  OF  PHOSPHORIC  ACID. 


TTHE  CHIEF  sources  of  phosphoric  are  four  in 
number;  namely:  (1)  bones  of  animals;  (2) 
phosphate  rocks,  which  are  the  fossil  remains  of 
pre-historic  marine  animals;  (3)  phosphatic  guanos; 
(4)  the  mineral  apatite.  Of  these,  fresh  animal 
bones  rank  first  in  people's  esteem,  although  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  phosphoric  acid  in  a  soluble 
condition  has  exactly  the  same  value  whether  de- 
rived from  fresh  bones  or  any  other  source.  Some- 
times the  agricultural  chemist  concedes  to  the  fresh 
bone  phosphate  more  than  is  just;  and  practical  re- 
sults must  always  be  the  first  criterion. 

The  bones  used  for  the  manufacture  of  fertilizers 
come  chiefly  from  slaughter-houses  and  butcher- 
shops,  or  are  picked  up  here  and  there.  Fresh  bone 
has  nearly  one-half  of  its  weight  of  organic 
matter — that  is,  gelatine,  water,  etc. — and 
one-half  of  its  weight  phosphate  of  lime.  Nearly 
one-half  of  the. weight  of  the  latter  is  the  phos- 


104  PRACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

phoric  acid  we  are  after,  and  this  therefore  makes 
out  twenty  or  more  per  cent  of  the  fresh  bone. 

Now,  bones  are  treated  in  a  variety  of  ways  to  fit 
them  for  fertilizer.  Often  they  are  steamed,  the  gel- 
atinous matter  extracted  for  glue,  the  remainder 
dried  and  ground.  This  process,  of  course,  deprives 
it  of  nitrogen,  and  leaves  little  besides  the  mineral 
elements  in  it.  Another  way,  and  a  good  one,  is  to 
crush  and  grind  the  fresh  bones.  This  gives  us  the 
"ground  bone,"  "bone  meal,"  "bone  dust"  and 
"bone  flour,"  which  contain  about  twenty  per  cent 
of  phosphoric  acid  and  two  to  three  of  nitrogen. 

Most  of  the  phosphoric  acid  is  insoluble;  that  is, 
in  its  fixed  combination  of  phosphate  of  lime,  same 
as  it  was  in  the  whole  bone.  Its  fine  state  of  divi- 
sion, especially  as  it  appears  in  bone  flour,  exposes 
it  to  contact  with  air,  moisture,  carbonic  acid  and 
other  influences  in  the  soil,  and  offers  to  it  many 
chances  of  new  chemical  alliances,  so  that  we  need 
not  wonder  that  plants  always  know  how  to  get 
hold  of  some  of  this  phosphoric  acid  almost  from 
the  beginning,  nor  that  the  effect  of  this  bone  ap- 
plication is  usually  quite  lasting;  of  course,  all  the 
slower  and  more  lasting  the  coarser  the  bone  was 
ground.  Its  nitrogen  also  acts  in  a  similar  manner; 
its  effect  is  slow  and  lasting.  Whenever  the  soil 
needs  phosphoric  acid,  and  little  else,  and  the  crops 
can  be  be  given  their  own  time  to  use  it — as  winter 
grains,  fruit  trees,  etc. — finely  ground  bone  may  be 
used  to  good  advantage.  An  average  quality  is 
worth  thirty  dollars  or  more  per  ton. 

In  bone  meal,  etc.,  we  have  the  phosphoric  acid 
in  the  form  of  simple  bone  phosphate  of  lime.  If 
wanted  in  a  more  immediately  available  form,  we 
thus  find  it  in  dissolved  bone,  which  is  bone  treated 


TREATMENT   OF   BONES.  105 

with  sulphuric  acid.  This  treatment,  as  already  ex- 
plained in  the  first  part  of  this  volume,  gives  us  the 
double,  or  bi-phosphate  of  lime,  and  if  continued  by- 
further  additions  of  sulphuric  acid,  the  substance 
called  by  fertilizer  men  "superphosphate."  In  this 
we  have  most  of  the  phosphoric  acid  in  a  soluble 
form,  or  immediately  "  available,"  and  just  in  this 
form  it  exists  in  our  high-grade  fertilizers.  We 
have  no  means  of  counteracting  the  natural  ten- 
dency of  the  free  phosphoric  acid  to  "revert" 
whtm  applied  to  the  soil.  But  this  is  not  usually  a 
serious  matter.  The  "  reverted  "  phosphoric  acid  is 
again  subject  to  a  chemical  action  and  decomposi- 
tion in  the  soil,  and  therefore  may  well  be  con- 
sidered available,  even  if  not  soluble  in  distilled 
water.  Under  average  circumstances  the  reverting 
process  is  but  slow,  and  the  crops  have  a  good  op- 
portunity to  help  themselves  to  the  free  article. 
The  presence  of  free  lime  in  the  soil,  of  course, 
accelerates  the  process  of  reversion,  and  where  su- 
perphosphate is  used,  or  to  be  used,  lime  should 
not  be  applied. 

We  have  seen  that  the  sulphuric  acid  treat- 
ment, by  which  the  phosphoric  acid  is  made  immedi- 
ately soluble,  also  results  in  the  formation  of 
sulphate  of  lime.  Consequently,  the  more  soluble, 
and  therefore  more  valuable,  the  phosphoric  acid  in 
bone  phosphate,  the  greater  is  the  quantity  of  sul- 
phate of  lime  contained  in  it. 

The  phosphoric  acid  in  bones  can  also  be  made 
partially  available  by  burning,  either  in  open  fire 
or  in  closed  vessels.  By  the  latter 
procedure  we  obtain  what  is  called 
"  bone-black."  The  result  of  burning  bones  is  chief- 
ly phosphate  of  lime,  whithout  nitrogen.    To  make 


106  PEACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

it  immediately  soluble,  however,  it  will  still  have  to 
be  treated  with  sulphuric  acid,  and  we  then  get  the 
' '  dissolved  bone-black." 

Great  quantities  of  bones  are  always  accumulating 
in  the  course  of  a  season  on  every  farm — heads  and 
feet  of  slaughtered  animals,  bones  from  the  kitchen, 
etc.,  all  of  which  are  usually  delivered  to  poultry, 
dogs  and  cats  to  pick  over,  and  then  allowed  to  re- 
main lying  about  on  the  premises  where  left  by  the 
animals.  These  bones,  as  already  stated,  are  valu- 
able fertilizing  material,  containing,  besides  three 
or  four  per  cent  of  nitrogen,  nearly  one  quarter 
their  own  weight  in  phosphoric  acid.  Their  fertili- 
zing value,  therefore,  is  not  Jfar  from  one  and  one 
half  cents  per  pound,  and[would  be  still  considerably 
larger  if  all  these  plant  foods  were  immediately 
available.  Certainly,  they  are  so  valuable  that  we 
cannot  afford  to  ignore  this  source  of  fertilizer,  or 
allow  them  to  remain  scattered  all  over  the  premises, 
an  eyesore  to  owner  and  visitor  in  their  present  con 
dition,  when  they  could  be  made  to  serve  a  good 
purpose.  Bones  can  also  sometimes  be  bought  up 
in  the  neighborhood  at  a  fraction  of  their  real  value. 
The  great  problem,  however,  is,  how  can  these 
bones  be  got  in  proper  shape  for  feeding  our  crops? 

A  paragraph  familiar  to  every  careful  reader  of 
agricultural  papers  runs  about  as  follows:  ''Bury  a 
lot  of  bones  (or  a  dead  animal),  and  set  a  grape  vine 
or  a  fruit  tree  right  on  top  of  them."  This  is  an 
excellent  precept,  good  in  cases  where  only  a  few 
bones  are  on  hand  and  people  do  not  wish  to  bother 
-with  them  otherwise.  In  due  course  of  time — if  it 
should  take  ten  or  twenty  years — the  tree  or  grape 
vine  will  find  all  the  plant  food  that  is  in  the  buried 
bones,  and  will  make  good  use  of  it. 


UTILIZATION   OF    BONES.  107 

To  get  bones  into  an  available  form  for  manuring 

garden  and  field  crops,  there  are  a  variety  of  ways 

open  to  us.     The  simplest  of  these  is 

m^rof  Bones",  burning.  Of  course,  this  process  de- 
prives the  bones  of  their  organic  (ni- 
trogenous) matter,  so  that  in  the  ash  of  bones  we 
have  nothing  left  but  their  mineral  constituents, 
chiefly  phosphate  of  lime,  with  perhaps  a  trace  of 
potash ;  but  this  plant  food  is  in  a  condition  which 
fits  it  for  use,  more  or  less  immediate,  by  plants. 
My  own  favorite  way  (burning  in  the  heap  of  rub- 
bish) has  already  been  fully  described  in  Fourteenth 
Chapter.  Bones  burned  in  a  furnace  or  stove  where 
wood  is  used  for  fuel  add  largely  to  tiie  value  of  the 
wood  ashes  as  a  fertilizer,  by  adding  their  own 
phosphoric  acid  to  that  already  there,  and  to  the 
rich  store  of  potash. 

Another  way  in  which  we  can  make  bones  avail- 
able for  plant  food  is  by  mixing  them,  after  having 
been  broken  into  small  pieces  by  grinding  or  pound- 
ing, with  fresh  horse  manure,  and  piling  this  up  to 
come  to  a  lively  fermentation.  This  treatment 
softens  them.  It  saves  all  their  elements  of  plant 
food,  and  is  a  good  way  for  the  average  farmer. 

A  third  way  of  making  bones  available  for  manure 
is  by  exposure  to  the  chemical  action  of  unleached 
wood  ashes.  They  should  be  broken  up  as  finely  as 
possible,  and  put  in  alternate  layers  with  the  ashes 
in  a  barrel  or  hogshead,  packed  down  quite  solid, 
in  a  similar  way  as  you  would  set  a  leach.  Then 
pour  on  water  or  still  better  the  rich  liquid  dipped 
up  from  the  barnyard  until  the  whole  mass  is 
moistened  clear  down  to  the  bottom.  Leave  in  this 
condition,  occasionally  putting  on  a  little  more 
water  to  keep  the  mass  moist  all  the  time,  until  the 


108  PRACTICAL    FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

bones,  in  the  course  of  three  or  six  months,  or  a 
year,  have  become  soft  and  can  easily  be  broken  in 
small  fragments. 

The  fourth  way  is  that  by  acid  treatment.  I 
do  not  commend  it  to  the  average  farmer,  when  any 
other  way  is  open.  The  farmer  is  not  a  chemist, 
and  handling  such  corrosive  substances  as  sulphuric 
acid  is  hardly  his  province.  There  is  always  an  ele- 
ment of  danger  in  this  business,  and  the  inexperi- 
enced had  better  not  seek  too  intimate  acquaintance 
with  it.  On  the  other  hand,  if  you  are  bound  to  try 
it,  there  is  no  great  difficulty  connected  with  learn- 
ing all  that  is  needed  about  it.  Only  use  the  utmost 
care,  and  be  sure  you  know  what  you  are  doing. 
Put  on  old  clothes  when  working  with  acids,  and 
keep  within  easy  reach  a  little  baking  soda  (bi-car- 
boate  of  soda),  unleached  wood  ashes  or  some  other 
alkali,  and  rub  some  of  this  on  at  once  should  a 
drop  of  acid  spatter  on  clothes,  boots,  or  flesh. 

For  a  vessel  in  which  to  dissolve  the  bones,  make 
a  large  tank,  box  or  vat  of  sound  plank.  If  lined 
with  lead,  all  the  better.  Break  up  the  bones  as 
finely  as  possible;  heap  them  up  in  the  bottom  of 
the  tank,  and  thoroughly  wet  them  with  water. 
Then  gradually,  carefully,  add  the  sulphuric  acid 
(oil  of  vitriol).  Some  commotion  and  considerable 
heat  will  be  the  result  of  the  contact  of  the  acid  and 
the  bones.  The  mass  is  to  be  shoveled  over  repeat- 
edly, and  more  acid  added,  until  fifty  pounds  of  the 
latter  have  been  used  to  every  one  hundred  pounds 
of  bones.  The  acid,  or  oil  of  vitriol,  can  be  bought 
in  "carboys"  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  pounds 
each,  costing  about  $2.25  or  $2.50.  The  heap  is 
again  shoveled  over  a  few  times,  and  after  a  while 
will  be  reduced  to  a  pasty  mass.    This  must  be 


PHOSPHATE   ROCK.  109 

dried  by  the  addition  of  bone  flour  (if  you  have  it) 
or  with  dry  muck,  dry  wood  ashes,  potash  salts,  etc. ; 
it  is  then  a  complete  fertilizer,  although,  perhaps, 
not  excessively  rich  in  nitrogen. 

If  we  were  compelled  to  depend  for  our  supply  of 

phosphoric  acid  on  the  bones  of  animals  of  our  own 

period,  we  would  be  in  a  bad  flx  indeed.     But  it  so 

happens  that  vast  quantities  of  fossil  bones— the 

bones  of  all  sorts  of  animals  that  inhab- 

^^»ock**^  ited  the  sea,  and  swamps,  and  ponds,  etc., 
probably  long  before  the  era  of  man— are 
stored  up  in  various  parts  of  the  world,  especially 
in  North  and  South  Carolina,  in  Florida  and  else- 
where. An  immense  accumulation  of  the  best 
article  of  this  kind  is  found  in  South  Carolina,  and 
this  contains  from  forty  to  sixty  per  cent  of  phos- 
phate of  lime.  It  is  known  under  the  name  ''  phos- 
phate   rock,    or   South  Carolina    rock." 

In  order  to  flt  it  for  use,  this  rock  is  ground  to  a 
fine  powder,  and  is  then  called  ground  South  Caro- 
lina rock,  or  floats.  In  this  we  have  about  twenty- 
seven  or  twenty-eight,  sometimes  even  more,  per 
cent  of  phosjioric  acid,  which  of  course,  is  wholly 
insoluble,  or  very  nearly  so.  The  stations  rate  this 
form  of  phosphoric  acid  at  two  cents  per  pound, 
making  the  ton  worth  eleven  or  twelve  dollars. 

If  applied  in  this  form  to  some  soils,  especially 
to  those  destitute  of  carbonaceous  matter  (humus), 
and  insufficiently  supplied  with  potash,  such  as 
thin,  sandy  soils,  this  plain  phosphate  has  usually 
little  or  no  immediate  effect.  In  soils  having  potash 
and  carbonaceous  matter  in  suflacient  quantity,  how- 
ever, the  phosphate  flour  is  very  slowly  dissolved, 
and  thus  made  available  for  plant  nutrition. 

Where  we  desire  immediate  action  of  the  phos- 


110  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

phoric  acid,  as  in  quick-maturing  crops,  a  different 
course  must  be  adopted;  and  instead  of  using  plain, 
ground  rock,  we  must  apply  phosphoric  acid  in  the 
soluble  state.  Thus  we  have  it  in  ''  dissolved  South 
Carolina  rock."  This  is  raw  ground  rock  or  floats, 
treated  with  sulphuric  acid  in  same  manner  as  de- 
scribed for  fresh  bone. 

Acid  phosphate  contains  about  fifteen  per  cent  of 
phosphoric  acid,  twelve  of  this  soluble  and  three 
insoluble.  A  ton  of  the  plain,  ground  rock  has 
about  540  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid  (nearly  all  in- 
soluble); the  acid  phosphate  has  only  about  300 
pounds,  of  which  240  pounds  is  soluble.  The  pound 
of  soluble  phosphoric  acid  will  cost  us  from  five  and 
three-fourths  to  seven  and  one-half  cents,  which  is 
somewhat  cheaper  than  in  bone  phosphate. 

We  might  also  buy  the  raw  ground  rock,  dissolve 
it  by  treatment  with  sulphuric  acid  in  the  way  men 
tioned  for  bones.  To  do  this  we  moisten  265  pounds 
of  the  ground  rock  with  about  eighty  pounds  of 
water  in  a  tank  or  vat,  then  slowly  and  carefully 
add  the  contents  of  a  carboy  (160  pounds)  of  sul- 
phuric acid  (oil  of  vitriol),  sixty-six  degrees  in 
strength,  and  stir  thoroughly.  The  result  will  be 
about  450  pounds  of  dissolved  rock  or  acid  phos 
phate,  containing  about  seventy  pounds  phosphoric 
acid,  mostly  soluble,  at  a  cost  of  $3.00  or  $4.00. 

The  latest  reports  from  Florida  assure  us  that  the 

mines  there  found,  and  now  opened,  may  also   be 

considered    inexhaustible,   and     perhaps 

^Kock.*     ^^^^  easier  worked  than  those  in  other 
parts  of  the  south.     At  the  same  time  the 
Florida  phosphates  are  claimed   to  be  of  a  higher 
grade  than  the  other,  and  to  contain  not  only  phos- 
phoric acid,  but  also  the  nitrogen  which  was  in  the 


SOURCES   OF  PHOSPHORIC   ACID.  Ill 

bones  originally.  In  short,  it  would  seem  that  the 
United  States  are  so  abundantly  supplied  with  the 
most  important  of  all  plant  foods,  and  for  so  long  a 
period,  that  we  may  be  relieved  of  all  anxiety  for 
the  future  concerning  this  material.  With  all  these 
mines  in  full  working  order,  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  prices  of  this  plant  food  will  have  a 
downward  rather  than  an  upward  tendency. 

The  phosphatic  guanos  imported  from  some  of  the 

islands  in  South  America,  and  supposed  to  be  the 

droppings  of  sea  fowls,  with  most  of  the  nitrogen 

washed  out  by  rain,  contain  from  fifteen 

iSam°e*etc  ^^  forty  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid, 
and  in  some  cases  more  or  less  nitrogen 
and  potash.  Usually  they  are  treated  with  sul- 
phuric acid,  and  thus  changed  into  superphosphate. 
But  with  the  abundant  supply  we  have  in  our  own 
country,  I  fail  to  see  why  it  should  be  necessary  for 
us  to  look  to  South  America  or  any  other  country 
for  phosphoric  acid.  The  same  is  true  of  apatite, 
which  is  a  phosphate  rock  of  supposed  purely  min- 
eral origin,  found  in  Canada.  If  treated  with  sul- 
phuric acid,  and  thus  rendered  soluble,  apatite  is 
probably  as  useful  as  any  other  form  of  soluble 
phosphoric  acid;  but  the  raw  material  is  usually 
considered  of  less  value  than  South  Carolina  rock. 

A  waste  or  by-product  of  the  German  and  English 

iron  industries,  known  as  Thomas',  or  basic,  slag, 

phosphate    meal,   etc.,  has  frequently 

Basic  Slag.  ^^^^  mentioned  in  the  press,  and  at 
recent  horticultural  meetings,  as  a  cheap  source  of 
phosphoric  acid.  We  used  to  get  it  from  the  New 
York  importer  at  thirteen  to  fifteen  dollars  per  ton. 
Now  a  firm  in  Pottstown,  Pa.,  is  manufacturing  and 
offering  it  as  fertilizer  under  the  name  of  "  odorless 


112  PKACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

phosphate,"  charging  us  $22.50  per  ton  for  it.  It 
contains  twenty-one  to  twenty-two  per  cent  of 
phosphoric  acid,  claimed  to  be  for  the  most  part 
immediately  available.  If  this  be  true,  we  get  our 
phosphoric  acid  (at  five  and  a  quarter  cents  per 
pound)  in  this  article  reasonably  cheap.  It  may  be 
worth  the  trial.  The  manufacturers  also  intend  to 
establish  large  factories  in  other  parts  of  the  country, 
notably  in  the  north-west,  and  altogether  it  seems 
that  we  have  here  a  source  of  phosphoric  acid  which 
will  become  important,  especially  for  many  sections, 
which,  remote  from  the  sea-shores,  have  heretofore 
been  practically  excluded  from  the  benefits  of  phos- 
phatic  manures  on  account  of  the  heavy  tariff  levied 
upon  commerce  by  transportation  companies. 

Tankage  consists  chiefly  of  offal  from  slaughter- 
houses, and  is  a  mixture  of  partly  cooked  particles 
of  meat  and  flakes  of  bone  deposited  in 

FiahBcfa^p      tanks,   in  which  the  refuse  from  the 

butcher  is  treated  to  separate  the  grease. 

It  contains  fair  percentages  of  both  nitrogen  and 

phosphoric  acid,  the  proportion  of  each  generally 

varying  inversely  with  the  quantity  of  the  other. 

Fish  scrap  is  obtained  by  drying  and  pulverizing 
the  residue  left  from  the  extraction  of  oil  from  fish, 
and  contains,  in  addition  to  nitrogen,  a  fair  propor- 
tion of  phosphoric  acid. 


EIGHTEENTH  CHAPTER. 


OUR    SOURCES    OF    POTASH. 


A  MONG  the  substances  that  we  might  emplv^y  for 
the  purpose  of  providing  our  lands  and  crops 
with  potash  are,  first  of  all,  the  alkaline  salts  im- 
ported from  Germany,  chiefly  muriate  (or  chlor- 
ide) of  potash,  sulphate  of  potash,  and  kainit.  There 
is  only  one  mine  now  known  where  these  manurial 
salts  are  obtained,  but  the  supply  is  said  to  be  inex- 
haustible. The  story  of  its  discovery  is  quite  in- 
teresting. It  is  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  when  I 
stood  on  the  spot,  and  saw  the  piles  of  what  was 
then  considered  a  poor  quality  of  "  cattle  salt,"  and 
rather  a  "nuisance;"  for  the  government  of  the 
little  principality  of  Anhalt-Bernburg  was  then  in 
search  of  the  pure  rock  salt,  layers  of  which  were 
supposed  to  extend  over  the  line  to  "  Leopoldshall," 
from  the  great  deposits  at  Stassfurt  on  the  Prussian 
side.  The  impure  article,  however,  continued  to 
come,    and   no  pure  salt  appeared    in    sight.      A 


114  PRACTICAL  FARM  CHEMISTRY. 

chemist  at  last  discovered  the  true  nature  of  the 
stuff  brought  up  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  and 
then  it  was  found  what  value  there  was  in  the  here- 
tofore despised  "cattle  salt."  Factories  were 
erected,  the  mined  product  sorted,  ground,  and 
worked  up,  and  soon  the  "dung  salts"  were  used 
to  quite  an  extent,  especially  also  in  England.  The 
proceeds  from  these  mines  were,  for  a  long  time, 
sufficient  to  cover  all  the  governmental  expenses 
of  the  little  principality,  and  the  people,  for  a  num- 
ber of  years,  had  the  good  fortune  to  be  entirely 
freed  from  state  taxes.  The  whole  mine  system 
has  recently  become,  by  purchase,  the  property  of 
an  English  syndicate. 

From  there  we  get  our  supply  of  potash  salts. 

One  of  these  is  the  muriate  or  chloride  of  potash, 

which  contains  from  fifty  to  fifty-five 

o?Po\a8h.  P^^  ^^^^  ^^  potash  in  a  readily  soluble 
form.  This  potash  is  rated  at  four  and 
one  half  cents  per  pound  by  the  stations,  and  a  ton 
of  the  muriate  would  therefore  be  worth  about 
forty -five  to  fifty  dollars.  It  usually  sells  for  about 
forty  dollars,  and,  hence,  we  may  consider  it  a 
cheap  source  of  this  indispensable  element  of  plant 
food.  On  the  other  hand,  it  needs  to  be  said  that 
this  form  also  contains  a  considerable  percentage  of 
the  somewhat  objectionable  element  chlorine,  and 
that  when  applied  in  excessive  doses  to  some  crops, 
it  may  do  considerable  damage. 

For  tree  and  small  fruits,  this  form  of  potash  can 
safely  be  used  in  almost  unlimited  quantities. 
With  the  light  we  now  have  on  the  subject,  it  seems 
that  for  general  farm  and  orchard  uses,  muriate  is 
about  the  cheapest  source  of  potash. 

Sulphate  of  potash  contains   from  thirty-five  to- 


POTASH   SALTS.  115 

fifty-three  per  cent  of  pure  potash,  and  the  latter  is 

rated  at  five  and  one  half  cents  per  pound,  making 

the  ton  worth  from  $38.50  to  $58.30.     A 

of  Potash,  liigli-grade  article  containing  fully  fifty 
per  cent  potash  usually  can  be  had  for 
about  fifty  eight  or  sixty  dollars,  and  it  is  a  superior 
and  safe  form  of  this  element  of  plant  food. 

We  also  have  the  double  sulphates  of  potash  and 
magnesia,  in  which  the  potash  is  also  rated  at  five 
and  one  half  cents  per  pound.  An  average  sample 
contains  about  twenty-six  per  cent  potash;  hence 
it  is  worth  about  thirty  dollars  per  ton. 

Kainit,  although  decidedly  a  low-grade  article,  is 
nevertheless  a  most  important  form  of  potash  ill 
many  respects.  Its  potash,  of  which  there  is  only 
twelve  or  thirteen  per  cent,  appears  partly 
as  sulphate,  and  partly  as  muriate.  Kainit 
also  contains  common  salt,  gypsum,  chloride  of  mag- 
nesium, etc.  Its  potash  is  rated  at  four  and  one  half 
cents  per  pound,  and  the  value  of  kainit  per  ton 
should  consequently  be  placed  somewhere  near 
eleven  dollars.  At  the  mines  in  Leopoldshall  it  can 
be  bought  for  about  four  or  five  dollars  per  ton,  and 
the  ocean  freight  is  usually  very  low,  so  at  the 
seaports  we  ought  to  be  able  to  buy  it  at  eight  or 
ten  dollars  per  ton  when  buying  it  by  the  cargo. 

This  salt  has  the  power  to  "fix"  ammonia  in  a 
most  remarkable  degree.  So  it  not  only  gives  us 
our  money's  worth  of  potash,  but  at  the  same  time 
performs  the  functions  of  plaster  applications,  in 
saving  the  slippery  carbonate  of  ammonia,  or  per- 
haps even  drawing  it  from  the  air,  for  the  use  of 
our  crops. 

Prof.  C.  A.  Goessmann,  director  of  the  Massachu- 
setts  State   Agricultural    Experiment    Station,   an 


116  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

eminent  chemist,   wrote  me    concerning  kainit  as 
follows: 

''Kainit  contains  common  salt,  gypsum,  chloride 
of  potassium  and  sulphate  of  potash,  besides  chloride 
of  magnesium.  Its  compound  character  is  apt  to 
supply  known  as  well  as  unknown  wants  of  the 
plants  raised  by  its  aid.  It  is  a  superior  absorber 
of  ammonia,  as  compared  with  gypsum;  it  diffuses 
potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  and  renders  them  more 
accessible  to  all  kinds  of  plants,  rooting  at  different 
depths;  it  increases  the  water-retaining  quality  of 
the  soil.  Its  large  percentage  of  common  salt  ren- 
ders its  use  in  some  cases  objectionable,  but  for 
grass  lands  and  forage  crops  in  general,  its  applica- 
tion deserves  high  recommendation.  For  most  gar- 
den crops,  where  stems,  leaves  and  roots  are  to  be 
used,  muriate  of  potash  is  safer.  For  fruits  (and 
sugar  and  starch-containing  plants),  carbonate  and 
sulphate  of  potash  are  safer  potash  resources." 

Prof.  Dabney  says:  ''Lime  promotes  the  action 
of  kainit  to  a  very  marked  degree;  kainit  is,  by 
itself,  frequently  a  proper  application  to  swamp 
lands  and  new  lands,  being,  also,  a  powerful  diges- 
tive agent." 

For  orchards,  especially  Peach  trees,  it  often 
proves  a  veritable  panacea,  and  I  have  seen  some  of 
the  diseases  of  the  Peach  yield  to  its  application 
as  if  by  magic. 

To  sum  up,  I  would  say  that  kainit,  as  a  source  of 
potash,  is  worth  just  about  its  cost;  but  it  gives  us 
so  many  other  advantages  besides,  that  it  cannot  be 
doubted  that  we  have  in  it  a  valuable  manure. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  should  not  forget  that 
kainit  only  furnishes  potash,  and  not  a  particle  of 
other  plant  nutriments  directly,  and  that  it  helps  to 


117 

rob  the  land  of  these  plant  foods ;  so  that  in  some 
respects  its  effect  is  like  that  of  lime.  Without 
simultaneous  applications  of  other  manures  it  may 
*'make  the  father  rich  and  the  children  poor." 

The  most  important  domestic  sources  of  potash  are 

wood  ashes,  cotton  seed  hull  ashes,  tobacco  dust, 

and  tobacco  stems.     The  composition 

bacco  ReftiBe!  ^^^  values  of  the  various  ashes  have 
been  given  in  the  chapter  on  domestic 
manures.  Corn-cob  ashes  are  only  second  to  cotton 
seed  hull  ashes  in  amount  of  potash. 

Tobacco  dust  contains  about  9.05  per  cent  potash, 
3.00  per  cent  nitrogen,  and  2.25  per  cent  phosphoric 
acid.  Its  fertilizing  value  is  near  twenty  dollars  per 
ton.  Tobacco  stems  contain  about  6.50  per  cent  of 
potash,  0.60  per  cent  phosphoric  acid,  and  2.25  per 
cent  nitrogen,  and  have  a  fertilizing  value  of  about 
twelve  dollars  per  ton. 

Saltpetre,  if  pure,  is  almost  one  half  potash,  with 

fourteen  per  cent  nitrogen.    It  is  probably  worth 

a  hundred  dollars  per  ton.     Some  of  the 

andMari.      ^^^  Jersey  marls,   (green  sand  marl) 

are  said  to  contain  as  much  as  seven 

per  cent  of  potash.   This  is  not  in  an  available  form, 

but  good  results  are  sometimes  reported  from  the 

use  of  this  material. 


NINETEENTH  CHAPTER. 


MUCK    AND    ITS    POSSIBILITIES. 


i^UR.  swamps  often  contain  a  gold  mine  of  plant 
^^^  foods  if  we  only  know  how  to  make  the  right 
use  of  the  materials.  It  is  true,  there  is  a  great 
difference  in  the  value  of.  different  samples  of  peaty 
and  mucky  soils,  some  being  much  richer  than 
others  in  nitrogen,  some  containing  mineral  elements 
of  plant  foods,  while  others  do  not,  and  some  being 
well-nigh  worthless. 

The  kind  I  have  now  under  consideration  is  an 
average  sample  of  black  muck,  as  generally  found 
in  bogs  and  swampy  meadows,  and  which  consists 
almost  altogether  of  decayed  vegetable  matter,  so 
saturated  with  water,  sponge -like,  that  the  liquid 
element  forms  more  than  three  fourths  of  its  weight. 

Suppose  we  have  a  soil  which  needs  the  mechani- 
cal effect  that  stable  manure  gives,  about  as  much 
as  it  does  the  plant  food  which  the  latter  contains; 
in  other  words,  soil  in  such  condition  as  to  require 
the  addition  of  some  bulky,  porous  substance  to 
open  it  up;  to  render  it  pulverizable,  to  furnish  the 


NITROGEN   IN   MUCK.  119 

decaying  matter  which  serves  as  a  medium  through 
and  in  which  the  process  of  nitrification  is  carried 
on,  and  to  add  to  its  capacity  for  absorbing  and 
holding  moisture,  etc.  In  this  case,  a  fair  average 
quality  of  muck,  properly  prepared,  may  give  us 
every  advantage  of  stable  manure  at  a  reasonable 
cost  of  materials  and  preparation. 

The  chief  ingredient  of  plant  food  which  muck 
or  peat  contain  is  nitrogen,  and  of  this  an  average 
sample  of  wet  muck  has  a  little  more  than  one  third 
per  cent,  or  about  seven  pounds  per  ton.  By 
exposing  the  muck  for  some  time  to  the  air,  and 
giving  about  half  of  the  water  a  chance  to  evaporate, 
we  can  get  it  reasonably  dry,  so  that  a  ton  of  it 
would  contain  twelve  pounds  of  nitrogen.  If  this 
were  readily  available,  it  would  make  the  ton  of  this 
partially  dried  muck  worth  about  two  dollars.  Some 
samples  when  perfectly  dry  have  so  much  nitrogen 
that  I  have  seen  the  value  estimated  by  some  of  the 
stations  at  nine  dollars  per  ton. 

The  nitrogen  in  muck  is  not  readily  available,  but 
we  will  have  little  difficulty  in  making  it  so  by  a 
little  manipulation.  I  think  I  have  already  men- 
tioned one  way  on  a  former  occasion.  This  is  by 
making  use  of  the  dry  or  partially  dry  muck  as 
bedding  for  stock — horses,  cows,  pigs,  etc. — and  as 
absorbent  in  poultry -houses,  closets,  etc.  Here  it 
will  soak  up  the  liquids  and  become  mixed  with  the 
solids.  All  that  is  of  value  in  voidings  will  be  held 
and  saved  from  waste  or  deterioration.  After  having 
served  its  purpose  in  the  stables,  the  muck  is  thrown 
together  in  a  square  heap  to  ferment,  and  is  occa- 
sionally shoveled  over.  Thus  its  own  original  stores 
of  nitrogen  are  changed  by  chemical  action  and 
gradually  rendered   available,  so  that  the  manure 


120 


PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 


thus  obtained  is  far  more  valuable  than  the  leached 
stuff  so  often  misnamed  "stable  manure."  In  a 
comparative  short  time  it  will  be  in  best  possible 
condition  for  immediate  application,  unsurpassed  as 
a  top-dressing,  especially  for  garden  crops. 

We  may,  however,  not  keep  much,  or  any,  stock 

that  will  help  us  to  convert  raw  muck  into  a  first 

quality  of  manure,  and  in  such  cases  we 

Artificial     y^m  ]jq  forced  to  resort  to  other  means. 

Manure.  For  instance,  we  take  a  ton  of  muck  hav- 
ing twelve  pounds  of  nitrogen,  add  to  it 
200  pounds  of  unleached  wood  ashes,  having  eleven 
pounds  of  potash  and  three  and  one  half  pounds  of 
phosphoric  acid,  and  finally  fifteen  pounds  of  dis- 
solved bone,  having  two  and  one  half  pounds  of 
phosphoric  acid.    Now  we  have 


, 

Nitrogen. 

Potash. 

Phos.  acid. 

2,000  lbs.  muck 

10  lbs. 

trace. 
11  lbs. 

trace. 

300  lbs.  wood  ashes 

3i  lbs. 
2i  lbs. 

15  lbs,  dissolved  bone 

Total,  2,215  lbs.,  containing. . . 

10  lbs. 

11  lbs. 

6  lbs. 

This  material  is  now  thoroughly  composted  in  a 
similar  way  as  in  the  former  case.  No  nitrogen  is 
added,  as  was  done  by  the  addition  of  animal  void- 
ings,  but  the  chemical  action  also  helps  to  render 
the  original  nitrogen  of  the  muck  gradually  avail- 
able. In  the  course  of  manipulation,  we  probably 
deprive  the  muck  of  some  of  its  moisture,  and  in 
the  end  we  will  have  about  one  ton  of  compost, 
containing  twelve  pounds  of  nitrogen,  six  pounds 
of  phosphoric  acid,  and  eleven  pounds  of  potash, 
hence  being  the  equal  in  every  way  to  a  ton  of  an 


ARTIFICIAL   STABLE   MANURE.  121 

unusually  fine  quality  of  stable  manure,  worth  little 
less  than  three  dollars  at  the  cost  of  200  pounds  of 
ashes,  and  15  pounds  of  bone,  plus  the  labor  re- 
quired in  getting  out  the  muck  and  composting  the 
mixture. 

My  object  in  the  foregoing  has  been  to  show  that 
we  often  have  a  way  of  getting  the  equivalent  of 
good  stable  manure  when  the  real  article  is  not  on 
hand,  and  cannot  be  purchased.  Now,  suppose 
that  wood  ashes  were  not  to  be  had,  either;  then  we 
would  have  to  use  some  form  of  potash  salts — for 
instance,  kainit,  of  which  eighty  pounds  would 
give  us  just  about  the  quantity  required,  at  a  cost 
of  about  sixty  cents.  Since  kainit  has  no  phos- 
phoric acid,  however,  we  would  also  have  to  increase 
the  allowance  of  dissolved  bone,  making  it  twenty- 
five  pounds  instead  of  fifteen  pounds.  The  materials 
would  then  cost  us  : 

80  pounds  of  kainit,            -           -           -           -  $0.60 

25        *'  bone, 40 

Total, $1.00 

It  is,  of  course,  not  necessary  to  adhere  strictly  to 
these  proportions.  They  may  be  more  or  less  varied 
or  other  plant  foods  substituted.  Instead  of  bone, 
for  instance,  we  might  use  any  of  the  plain  phos- 
phates, or  dead  animals,  etc.  Or  we  may  simply 
mix  a  quantity  of  the  common  fertilizers,  contain- 
ing phosphoric  acid,  potash  and  perhaps  a  little 
nitrogen,  with  the  muck,  and  thus  compost  it.  More 
bone  than  given  in  these  formulae  will  be  found  of 
service  in  most  cases. 


>^  OF  THE 

'UNIVBRSITr; 


TWENTIETH  CHAPTER, 


FLESH    AND    FISH    COMPOSTS. 


'T^HE  OLD  method  of  disposing  of  the  carcasses 
of  dead  horses,  cattle  and  other  larger  domes- 
tic animals,  by  simply  hauling  them  to  the  nearest 
woods  or  swamp,  and  leaving  them  there  as  a  prey 
to  foxes,  dogs,  crows,  buzzards,  worms  and  natural 
decomposition,  is  yet  widely  practiced,  but  neither 
nice  or  wise.  I  think  it  is  misfortune  enough  for 
the  farmer  to  lose  a  serviceable  animal;  it  would  be 
a  foolish  act  of  extravagance  for  him  to  let  the  plant 
food  contained  in  the  carcass  go  to  waste.  And 
the  amount  of  this  plant  food  is  not  inconsiderable. 
Suppose  we  have  a  dead  horse  weighing  about  1200 
pound.  Nearly  three  quarter  of  this  weight  is 
water;  in  the  remaining  300  pounds  of  dry  matter 
we  have  something  like  200  pounds  of  dry  flesh,  and 
100  pounds  of  bone.  The  dry  flesh  contains  fifteen 
per  cent  of  nitrogen  and  a  small  percentage  each  of 
phosphoric  acid  and  potash ;  the  bone  contains 
about  twenty-five  per  cent  of  phosphoric  acid,  and 


FLESH   COMPOST.  123 

four  of  nitrogen.  Thus  we  find  in  the  1200  pound 
carcass,  at  a  rough  estimate,  the  following  quanti- 
ties of  plant  food,  viz.: 

34  pounds  nitrogen  @  15|  cents,  -  -  -  $5.27 

25        "      phosphoric  acid  @  7  cents  -  -       1.75 

Total  value,  -  -  -  -  $7.02 

The  problem  before  us  now  is  how  to  make  all  this 
plant  food  available.  We  might  follow  the  advice  so 
often  given,  to  bury  the  carcasses  of  smaller  ani- 
mals, or  pieces  of  larger  ones,  at  the  roots  of  trees 
and  grape  vines.  This  will  put  the  plant  foods  to 
very  good  use;  but,  after  all,  it  is  a  very  crude  and 
unscientific  mode  of  application.  Fertilizer  or  "  ren- 
dering" establishments  make  a  convenient  market 
for  all  carcasses  available  within  a  reasonable  dis- 
tance, and  afford  to  the  people  in  that  circle  a  good 
chance  to  sell  dead  animals,  or  exchange  them  for 
fertilizers  Farmers  not  having  this  opportunity, 
or  who,  if  they  have  it,  wish  to  make  still  better 
use  of  their  dead  animals,  may  get  them  into  avail- 
able shape  for  manure  by  composting  them  with 
horse  manure,  or  with  muck,  turf,  etc. 

Tlie  process  is  simple  enough.  Cut  the  carcass  or 
carcasses  into  reasonably  small  pieces,  place  a  layer 
of  these  upon  a  deep  layer  of  muck  or  fresh  horse 
manure,  cover  with  another  layer  of  muck  or  man- 
ure, and  continue  in  alternate  layers,  making  the 
heap  three  or  four  feet  high.  Cover  the  whole  with 
a  foot  or  so  of  dry  muck,  turf  or  loam,  and  leave 
until  the  fleshy  matter  has  decomposed  enough  to 
allow  the  heap  to  be  shoveled  or  forked  over.  The 
process  of  composting  may  take  a  year' s  time,  but  it 
will  result  in  a  very  rich  manure.  If  muck  alone  is 
used,  without  horse  dung,  potash  may  be  added  in 
the  form  of  unleached  wood  ashes,  or  perhaps  better, 


124  PRACTICAL    FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

in  that  of  kainit,  at  the  rate  of  100  pounds  of  kainit 
to  every  500  or  600  pounds  of  carcass.  It  is  advis- 
able to  add  a  little  kainit  even  to  the  flesh -manure 
compost,  and  the  further  addition  of  100  pounds  or 
so  of  some  simple  phosphate,  as  bone  black  or  floats, 
may  be  desirable  for  the  purpose  of  rendering  the 
proportion  of  plant  foods  in  the  compost  more 
evenly  balanced.  At  any  rate  this  compost  will  be 
very  rich  in  nitrogen,  far  richer  than  the  very  best 
of  ordinary  composted  stable  manure. 

Where  fish  and  fish  waste  is  readily  procurable 
at  almost  nominal  rates,  as  in  many  places  along 
the  sea  shores,  a  cheaper  source  of  nitro- 
compost.    ^^^  ^^^  phosphoric  acid  need  not  be  look- 
ed for.     The  material  may  be  composted 
in  somewhat  the  same  manner  as  described  for  car- 
casses; but  the  compost  will  be  comparatively  richer 
in  phosphoric  acid.     Some  kainit,  say  100  pounds 
to  each  400  pounds  of  fish,  will  make  a  good  addi- 
tion.    I  would  advise  the  very  liberal  use  of  muck, 
both  in  the  bottom  of  the  compost  heap  and  as  a 
covering  for  it.     The  finest  piece  of  tomatoes  I  have 
ever  seen  was  grown  on  land  heavily  manured  with 
such  fish  compost. 


TWENTY-FIRST  CHAPTER. 


TABLE  OF  ANALYSES  AND  VALUATIONS. 


ASA  sort  of  ready  reference  I  give  the  following 
table,  showing  composition  and  valuation  of 
the  more  important  substances  purchasable  for 
manurial  purposes.  The  analyses,  for  the  most  part, 
represent  an  average  of  a  number  of  samples,  and 
the  valuation  is  compounded  on  the  basis  of  this 
year's  schedule  of  prices  as  adopted  by  our  experi- 
ment station.  Delivered  on  the  farm,  these  mater- 
ials have  a  correspondingly  larger  value: — 


No. 


1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

11 

12 

13 


SUBSTANCE. 


Apatite  (mineral  phosp'te) 

Blood,  dried  . .   . . 

Bone  Black  dissolved 

Bone  charcoal 

Bones  ground  fine 

Castor  Pomace 

Coal  dust  

Cotton  seed  meal 

Cotton  seed  hull  ashes.. . 
Cow  manure  (varies) ...    . 

Fish  dry  ground 

Guano  phosphatic  (varies). 
Guano  Peruvian  


Nitro- 


Per  ct. 


9.50 


3.90 
5.35 

1.85 
6.10 


0.50 
6.80 

5  Vo 


Phosphoric  Acid. 


Avail- 
able 


Perot 


16.65 
5.00 


4.00 


iDSOl 

uble. 


Perct 


35.00 

0.35 
20.00 


4.10 


Total 
Perct 


35.00 

1.90 

17.00 

25.00 

22  40 

1.95 

0.60 

1.45 

8.40 

0.25 

8.10 

26.75 

18.45 


Pot- 
ash. 


Perct 


1.05 
trace 

0.90 
22.10 

0.45 


3.45 


Ferti- 
lizing 

Value 
per 
ton. 


No. 


00 
11 
04 
00 
06 
44 

54 
39 
25|  10 
22:  11 
101  12 
40'  13 


126 


TABLE   OF   ANALYSES. 


SUBSTANCE. 


Hen  manure, from  high-  ) 

fed  fowls j 

Hog  manure  (varies) 

Horn  and  hoof  waste .... 
Horse  manure  (varies). . . 

Kainit   

Leaves,  dry  forest 

Linseed  meal  

Lobster  shells,  ground. . , 

Muck,  wet 

Muriate  of  potash 

Nitrate  of  soda , 

Odorless  phosphate 

Saltpetre,  pure 

Saltpetre    waste    from 

gunpowder  works . . , 
Sea  weed  (varies)     .     . . 
Slag  (Thomas  or  Basic) ) 

See  Odorless  phosph.  J 

Soap  works  refuse.   

S.C.  Rock.  ground(float8). 

S.  C.  Rock,  dissolved 

Sulphate  of  ammonia 

Sulphate  of  potash 

Sulphate  of  potash  (high  ) 

grade) f 

Double  sulph.  of  potash  ) 

and  magnesia  ) 

Tanbark  ashes  (spent)  — 

Tobacco  dust , 

Tobacco  stems 

Wheat  bran 

Wood  ashes  unleached  ) 

hard  wood  (variable .  j" 
Wood    ashes,    leached  [ 

hard  wood f 

Wool  Wastef 


Nitro- 


Per  ct. 


1.60 

0.60 

14.45 

0.60 


0.65 
5.25 
6.20 
0.35 


16.00 

14.0'0' 
2.45 
1.05 


3.25 


20  80 


3.00 
2.25 
2.89 


1.20 


Phosphoric  Acid. 


Av'il- 
able. 


Perct 


5.30 


11.60 


Insol- 
uble. 


Perct 


Total. 
Perct 


10.10 


3.65 


1.50 

0.40 
2  30 
0.30 


0.20 

1.95 

2.30 

trace 


21.00 


0.30 


15.40 
27.20 
15.25 


1. 
2.10 
0.60 
3.04 

1.50 

1.80 
0.30 


Pot- 
ash. 


Perct 


0.80 
0.30 


0.50 

13.00 

0.40 

1.40 

0.20 

trace 

51.50 


47.00 

18.00 

2.00 


35.95 
52.95 

26.60 

2.47 
9  05 
6.50 
1.57 

6.45 

1.75 
3.00 


Ferti- 
liiz'g 

Value 
per 
ton. 


7.40 

2.58 
21.61 

2.66 
11.70 

2  50 
19.49 
21.56 

1.05 
46.35 
46.40 
16.80* 
92.30 

26.91 

5.51 


19.27 
10.88 
20.02 
75.85 
39  55 

58.35 


No. 


14 

15 
16 
17 
18 
19 
20 
21 
22 
23 
24 
25 
26 

27 

28 

29 

30 
31 
32 
33 
34 

35 


29  15  36 

4.35t  37 
20.57'  38 
13  97i  39 
13.891  40 

9.80'  41 


4.09 
5.04 


42 
43 


*  The  phosphoric  acid  in  this  seems  to  be  to  some  extent  immediately 
available,  hence  rated  at  4  cents. 

t  Varies  greatly,  some  samples  having  as  high  as  17  per  cent  nitrogen,  and 
a  value  of  $30. 


PART  III. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  ECONOMIC 
APPLICATION. 


TWENTY-SECOND  CHAPTER. 


THE    NEEDS  OF    SOIL  AND    CROP. 


A  FTER  the  perusal  of  the  preceding  chapters,  the 
reader  will  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  purchase  of  fertilizers  is  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  the  purchase  of  a  more  or  less  definite  number 
of  pounds  of  nitrogen,  phosphoric  acid  and  potash. 
The  information  already  given  may  assist  him  in 
buying  these  articles  economically;  but  this  is  not 
sufficient  Economical  buying  should  be  followed 
by  judicious,  economical  use;  for  the  application  of 
manures  on  the  hit-or-miss  plan  is  seldom  profitable. 
Time  and  time  again  I  have  been  asked  to  name 
the  best  manure  for  this  or  that  crop,  and  the  proper 
quantity  of  it  to  be  used  per  acre.  Such  questions 
always  place  a  person  in  the  position  of  the  physi- 
cian who  is  called  on  to  prescribe  for  a  sick  man 
without  a  chance  to  see  him,  or  to  ascertain  his  true 
condition  by  asking  him  questions,  or  taking  his 
pulse  or  temperature.  A  careful  diagnosis  should 
be  made  before  a  course  of  treatment  can  properly 
be  decided  upon.  And  so  it  is  with  the  soil.  We 
must  try  to  discover  what  ails  it,  before  we  can 
apply  manures  intelligently  and  economically.  A 
reliable  soil  diagnosis  can  not  possibly  be  made 
from  a  distance,  and  without  knowing  all  the  par- 


130  PRACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

ticular  circumstances  of  the  case.  The  farmer  him- 
self knows  these,  and  the  diagnosis  must  largely  be 
left  to  his  good  judgment. 

This  is  also  the  case  in  regard  to  quantity  to  be 
applied.  Our  old  family  physician,  when  asked 
how  much  to  give  of  a  medicine  prepared  by  him, 
often  used  to  say:  "Use  your  own  judgment."  So 
also  the  intelligent  farmer  will  be  required  to  use 
his  own  judgment  in  modifying  the  general  rules  to 
suit  each    particular    case,   bearing    in 

Diagnosis.  ^^^^  ^^^o  the  needs  of  the  particular 
crop.  The  most  I  can  do  in  this  connec- 
tion is  to  give  the  reader  some  hints  that  will  help 
him  in  making  a  correct  diagnosis,  and  to  show  him 
how  he  can  let  the  fertilizer  fit  his  soil  and  crop. 

First  of  all  we  should  know  how  much  plant  food 
is  removed  from  the  soil  in  a  good  yield  of  our  or- 
dinary field  crops. 

Suppose  we  raise  a  thirty  bushel  crop  of  wheat. 
We  then  take  off  the  soil,  in  the  grain  alone,  about 
thirty-seven  pounds  of  nitrogen,  nine  or  ten  pounds 
of  potash  and  fourteen  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid, 
and  in  the  straw,  perhaps  twenty  pounds  nitrogen, 
twenty-five  pounds  of  potash  and  nine  pounds  phos- 
phoric acid,  altogether  nearly  sixty  pounds  of  nitro- 
gen, thirty -five  pounds  of  potash  and  twenty- three 
pounds  of  phosphoric  acid,  more  or  less,  and  this 
quantity  of  plant  foods  we  must  return  to  the  soil 
after  each  thirty  bushel  wheat  crop  is  taken  off,  if 
we  desire  to  preserve  the  original  fertility  of  the 
soil.    There  may  be  slight  help  from 

Plant  Foods     ^]jq  atmosphere  in  furnishing  nitrogen 

Grain  Crops,     as  the  rains  and  dews  dissolve  the 

fioating  carbonate    of    ammonia  and 

perhaps  nitric  acid,  and  carry  it  down  to  the  soil; 


PLANT  FOODS  FOE  GRAIN  CROPS.       131 

but  tliese  contributions  are  small.  We  must  also 
take  into  consideration  that  nitrates  may  leach, 
through  the  soil  and  escape  into  the  drains.  The 
query  then  is,  what  fertilizing  material  does  it  take 
to  return  to  the  soil  the  plant  food  of  which  we  have 
robbed  it  by  taking  off  the  crop? 

Six  tons  of  average  farmyard  manure  would  just 
about  replace  the  amounts  of  nitrogen  (sixty 
pounds),  and  phosphoric  acid  (twenty-three  pounds), 
but  would  more  than  make  good  the  loss  of  potash 
— in  fact  give  an  excess  of  about  twenty-five  pounds 
of  it.  For  other  ordinary  grain  crops  the  figures 
approximate  those  given  for  wheat. 

In  stable  manure  we  also  replace  carbon  which  the 
crop  has  removed,  and  of  which  we  have  taken  no 
account,  as  it  has  no  quotable  value.  Uniting  with 
the  oxygen  of  the  air,  it  forms  carbonic  acid,  as 
already  stated,  and  this  not  only  acts  directly  as 
plant  food,  but  also  helps  in  decomposing  and  ren- 
dering soluble  the  locked-up  plant  foods  in  the  soil. 
This  carbonaceous  matter,  as  it  undergoes  slow  com- 
bustion, keeps  the  soil  open  and  makes  it  warmer, 
exposing  it  in  a  greater  degree  to  chemical  action, 
and  is  especially  valuable  as  an  aid  in  the  process 
of  nitrification.  The  supply  of  mineral  plant  foods 
in  the  manure  is  thus  supplemented  by  the  slow  de- 
composition of  the  soil,  which  often  contains  im- 
mense quantities  in  its  natural  state;  and  the  supply 
of  the  nitrogenous  element  is  supplemented  by 
additions  from  the  atmosphere. 

Thus,  if  we,  in  return  for  an  annual  crop  of  thirty 
bushels  of  wheat  or  its  equivalent  in  other  cereals, 
apply  six  tons  of  stable  manure  year  after  year,  we 
not  only  return  all  the  phosphoric  acid  taken  off, 
but  also  increase  the  available  stores  of  potash  and 


132  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

perhaps  nitrogen.  The  fertility  of  the  soil  is  grad- 
ually increased,  but  it  will  be  somewhat  one-sided, 
since  the  supply  of  phosphoric  acid  receives  no  ad- 
dition except  what  the  soil  itself  may  furnish  in 
consequence  of  natural  chemical  disintegration. 
Probably  there  are  few  farmers  that  raise  cereals 
thus  persistently,  and  manure  thus  liberally. 

A  yearly  application  of  four  tons  of  ordinary 
mixed  stable  manure  to  the  acre  would  replace  all 
the  potash  and,  when  we  add  the  amount  furnished 
by  the  atmosphere,  nearly  all  the  nitrogen  that  the 
grain  crops  have  taken  off.  The  only  important 
substance  not  returned  in  full  is  phosphoric  acid, 
which  is  taken  off  regularly  so  that  the  natural 
supply  must  be  gradually  lowered.  We  will  at  last 
come  to  a  stage  where  its  want  must  be  felt.  This 
is  the  exact  condition  of  thousands  of  grain  farms 
east,  west,  and  south. 

Here  we  have  made  one  soil  diagnosis,  based 
merely  upon  our  knowledge  of  the  treatment  which 
a  certain  soil  has  received  during  a  period  of  a  num- 
ber of  years.  We  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  lacks  phosphoric  acid.  This  we  must  supply  in 
order  to  restore  the  proper  balance  of 

Where  PhoB-  the  plant  foods  contained  in  it.  The 
^Needed"  cheapest  way  to  do  this  is  by  the  use 
of  a  simple  phosphate  or  superphos^ 
phate.  Among  the  substances  suitable  for  this  pur- 
pose, we  have  bone,  bone  charcoal,  and  dissolved 
bone  black,  phosphatic  guano,  basic  slag,  South 
Carolina  floats  and  dissolved  rock.  In  some  cases 
especially  where  the  soil  is  up  to  our  standard  of 
fertility,  and  time  can  be  allowed  for  making  the 
phosphoric  acid  soluble,  floats  may  answer,  and  will 
be  cheapest.    In  the  majority  of  cases  it  will  be 


FERTILIZERS    FOR   GRAIN-  CROPS.  133 

safer  and  preferable  to  apply  phosphoric  acid  in  a 
more  immediately  available  form,  as  in  dissolved 
bone  black  or  acid  phosphate  (dissolved  rock). 
These  materials  cost  fifteen  to  twenty  dollars  per 
ton,  and  have  fifteen  or  more  per  cent  of  phosphoric 
acid.  The  application  of  200  or  250  pounds,  in  an 
occasional  rotation  with  stable  manure,  while  cost- 
ing but  an  insignificant  sum,  will  yet  serve  to  set 
things  right,  and  will  answer  every  purpose  of  the 
six  ton  manure  application  with  its  unnecessary  ex- 
cess of  nitrogen  and  potash. 

This  explains  why  grain  farmers  often  find  the 
use  of  phosphatic  manure  desirable  and  profitable. 
We  may  expect  to  find  just  such  condition  of  afi'airs 
on  farms  where  enough  animals  are  kept  to  con- 
sume, besides  a  portion  of  the  grain  raised,  all  the 
straw  and  other  stover  so  that  the  coarser  farm  pro- 
ductions are  returned  to  the  soil  in  the  shape  of 
manure  or  absorbents.  Where  milk,  and  animals 
(dead  or  alive)  are  sold  off  the  place,  phosphoric 
acid  is  removed  all  the  faster,  and  the  use  is  all  the 
more  in  accord  with  rational  crop  feeding,  and 
therefore  with  good  farming. 

I  have  to  say  a  word  of  warning  against  a  very 
common,  and  a  very  great  mistake.  Farmers  who 
find  their  crops  materially  increased  by  an  applica- 
tion of  plain  phosphatic  manures,  are  only  too  apt 
to  imagine,  that  phosphates  are  specially  suited  to 
their  soil  or  crop,  and  that  equally  good  results  will 
be  secured  year  after  year  by  the  same  means. 
Nothing  can  be  further  from  the  truth.  If  plain 
phosphates  or  superphosphates,  and  nothing  more, 
are  put  into  the  soil  for  a  number  of  years  in  return 
for  grain  and  straw,  these  applications  must  soon 
cease  to  be  effective,  and  the  yields  will  soon  fall  off. 


134  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

As  no  return  is  made  for  the  large  quantities  of 
nitrogen  and  potash  which  the  crops  remove,  while 
phosphoric  acid  is  put  into  the  soil  every  year  in 
larger  quantities  even  than  needed  for  the  grain 
growth,  the  land  must  in  the  end  get  very  hungry 
for  just  the  two  substances  of  plant  food  which  phos- 
phates do  not  provide,  and  the  crops  must  suffer  for 
the  lack  of  them.  To  remedy  the  deficiency  in  such 
case,  we  might  apply  potash  and  nitrogen,  each  in 
some  simple  form — potash  in  German  potash  salts, 
green  sand  marl,  ashes,  etc;  nitrogen  in  nitrate  of 
soda,  sulphate  of  ammonia,  etc.,  or  both  plant  foods 
combined  in  saltpetre  waste  from  gunpowder  works, 
in  sea  weed,  tobacco  stems,  wool  waste,  etc.;  or 
better  than  all  this,  we  might  resume  the  old  way 
of  manuring  with  barnyard  manure,  until  the 
original  balance  of  soil  fertility  is  restored.  If  this 
treatment  is  again  pushed  still  further,  the  time 
soon  comes  when  plain  phosphate  will  once  more 
show  good  results.  All  this  seems  as  plain  as  a 
simple  example  in  addition  and  subtraction. 

A  proper  rotation  of  manures  and  manurial  sub- 
stances is  as  important  in  profitable  crop  feeding  as 
the  proper  rotation  of  the  crops  themselves.  Our 
chief  aim  must  be  the  maintainance  of  a  well- 
balanced  soil  fertility. 


TWENTY-THIRD  CHAPTER. 


CLOVER    AND    OTHER    PLANTS    AS 
MANURE    CROPS. 


/^  LOVER,  as  hay  crop,  is  one  of  the  chief  links  in 
the  chain  of  farm  crop  rotation;  And  it  is  a 
wonderful  crop — somewhat  of  a  paradox.  Generally- 
accepted  as  a  "renovator  of  land,"  and  a  crop  which 
gives  to  it  something  like  a  "resting  spell,"  it  draws 
more  heavily  on  the  supplies  in  the  soil  than  any 
other  crop;  for  in  two  tons  of  clover  hay  (supposing 
such  to  be  a  good  yield  on  an  acre  of  good  soil,  and 
perhaps  a  fair  equivalent  of  the  thirty  bushels  of 
wheat),  we  take  from  the  one  acre  about  120  pounds 
of  nitrogen,  ninety-three  of  potash  and  twenty- 
seven  of  phosphoric  acid.  At  the  same  time  the 
roots  and  stubs  on  the  same  area  contain  175  pounds 
of  nitrogen  and  more  than  seventy  pounds  each  of 
potash  and  phosphoric  acid,  all  of  which  probably 
are  a  kind  of  reserve  store,  largely  going  to  supply 
the  materials  for  the  production  of  after-growth  and 
seed.  The  whole  crop  (top  and  root)  has  absorbed 
an  aggregate  of  300  pounds  nitrogen,  165  pounds  of 
potash  and  100  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid.     Com- 


136  PRACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

paring  these  with  the  corresponding  quantities  re- 
quired for  the  production  of  grain  and  potato  crops, 
we  find  them  pretty  large  indeed;  and  clover  there- 
fore must  be  called  the  most  exhausting  crop  that 
the  farmer  grows. 

When  we  are  told  that  clover  is  a  "  renovator  "  of 
the  soil,  we  would  naturally  feel  inclined  to  ask: 
What  does  it  add  to  the  soil?  Its  mineral  consti- 
tuents, among  them  the  potash  and  phosphoric 
aoid,  cannot  possibly  be  derived  from  any  other' 
source  but  the  soil.  Like  other  leguminous  plants, 
clover  has  the  power  of  gathering  and  assimilating 
free  nitrogen  from  the  atmosphere;  but  it  cannot 
possibly  be  enough  to  make  up  for  the  nitrogen 
taken  off  in  the  hay.  So  we  see  that  the  famed 
"  renovator  of  soils  "  takes  a  good  deal  away,  and 
returns  nothing  but  a  portion  of  the  removed  nitro- 
gen. Every  two  tons  of  clover  hay  harvested  leave 
the  land  poorer  by  ninety-three  pounds  of  potash 
and  twenty-seven  pound  of  phosphoric  acid;  and  if 
many  such  crops  are  taken  off,  without  returning 
these  mineral  elements  in  some  form  to  the  soil,  it 
is  very  plain  that  the  latter  must,  in  the  end,  lose 
its  fertility. 

This  explains  why  clover  will  not  grow  on  ex- 
hausted land,  especially  on  that  which  lacks  potash, 
for  of  that  substance  clover  desires  a  considerable 
quantity.  It  further  suggests  the  usefulness  of  pot- 
ash on  land  intended  to  be  seeded  to  clover,  but  shy 
to  "take." 

While  clover  thus  fails  to  add  mineral  elements 
to  the  soil,  its  services  as  an  "accumulator"  of 
available  plant  foods  can  hardly  be  appreciated  too 
highly.  From  soil  and  atmosphere  it  draws  its 
nourishment  and  stores  it  in  its  own  tissues.    The 


CLOVER  AS  SOURCE  OF  CARBON.       137 

one-year-old  roots  and  stubs  contain  the  large  quan- 
tities of  fertilizing  substances  previously  named; 
and  when  plowed  in,  furnish  to  the  next  crop  a 
liberal  supply  of  food  in  a  most  digestible  form. 
Thus,  clover  helps  along  the  crop  or  crops  following 
it;  of  course,  at  the  expense  of  the  fertility  of  the 
soil;  and  this  again  makes  it  plain  why  farmers  like 
to  plant  such  crops  as  corn  and  potatoes  on  young 
clover  sod. 

Besides  the  three  elements  of  plant  food  which 
have  a  quotable  money  value,  clover,  like  other 
plants,  collects  and  stores  up  carbon,  the  supply 
being  drawn  largely,  and  if  need  be  wholly,  from 
the  air.     By  growing  clover  even  for  hay  we  can  fill 

the  soil  with  carbonaceous  matter  just 
^^TcaJboT''^  as  effectively  as  if  we  cart  coarse  stable 

manure  to  the  fields  and  plow  it  in. 
It  is  a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  supply  the 
soil  with  the  needed  minerals.  Muriate  of  potash, 
kainit,  etc.,  are  cheap  enough  sources  of  the  one; 
phosphatic  rock,  phosphate  meal,  bone  black,  etc., 
of  the  other.  These  alone,  however,  if  ever  so 
super- abundantly  present  in  the  soil,  do  not  make  it 
rich.  Such  soil  may  possibly  be  inactive,  without  life, 
for  the  lack  of  the  needed  plant  food,  nitrogen,  and 
of  the  mechanical  action  of  carbon.  Mtrogen  also 
can  be  provided,  either  together  with  phosphoric 
acid  by  application  of  bones,  fish,  etc.,  or  alone,  by 
application  of  sulphate  of  ammonia,  or  of  nitrates, 
etc.,  although  this  may  be  at  an  expense  far  too 
large  to  make  it  profitable  for  common  farm  crops. 
Thus  we  can  feed  a  worn-out  soil  with  the  substances 
generally  named  "chief  elements  of  plant  food." 
In  spite  of  greatest  liberality,  however,  the  soil  may 
remain  sluggish,  and  refuse  to  respond  with  thrifty 


138  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

plant  growth  as  promptly  as  soil  fed  with  stable 
manure.  It  yet  needs  carbon  to  loosen  it,  and  to 
protect  it  somewhat  against  the  ill  effect  of  a  dry 
season.  It  needs  carbon  to  assist  in  providing  avail- 
able nitrogen.  This  carbon  cannot  be  obtained  in  a 
simpler  and  cheaper  way  than  by  growing  clover  or 
other  green  crops,  and  plowing  them  under. 

The  farmer  who  has  a  big  supply  of  barnyard 
manure  might  dispense  with  clover  without  serious 
disadvantages.  Where  concentrated  fertilizers  have 
to  be  depended  upon  largely  or  chiefly  as  sources  of 
plant  foods,  clover  rotation,  or  still  better  manuring 
with  green  crops,  is  absolutely  necessary  to  supple- 
ment and  complete  the  application. 

This  I  wish  to  emphasize.  Concentrated  fertilizers 
and  green  manuring  go  well  together,  and  make  a 
complete  substitute  for  stable  manure.  With  plenty 
of  chemical  fertilizers  (potash  salts  or  ashes,  acid 
phosphate,  bone  meal  or  phosphate  meal,  etc.,  and 
perhaps  nitrate  of  soda  or  other  forms 

Clover  and     of  nitrogen),  and  the  privilege  of  using 

^Concentrated      ,  .,  .       -i  i  j        •   i. 

Manures,  clover,  the  poorest  soil  can  be  made  rich 
in  short  order,  and  to  produce  large 
yields  of  any  crop — garden  or  field — for  an  indefi- 
nite period,  and  the  soil  be  rendered  mellow,  friable 
and  warm;  in  short  brought  into  a  mechanically 
perfect  condition. 

The  question  now  is,  what  plants  are  best  adapted 
for  the  purpose  of  green  manuring  ?  Those  usually 
named  are  the  clovers,  peas,  rye  and  buckwheat. 
All  of  these  gather  organic  matter  from  the  atmos- 
phere, and  when  plowed  under,  or  left  to  decay  on 
the  surface,  add  humus  to  the  soil,  giving  the  latter 
a  darker  color  and  increased  value.  The  decaying 
organic  matter  is  a  never-failing  source  of  carbonic 


CLOVER   AND    PEAS.  139 

acid,  and  the  amount  of  this  in  a  soil  gives  it  its  im- 
mediate productive  power. 

While  the  leguminous  plants,  such  as  clovers  and 
peas,  also  have  the  power  to  take  nitrogen  from  the 
free  and  uncombined  stock  in  the  atmosphere — are 
nitrogen  gatherers — rye  and  buckwheat  have  no 
such  power,  consequently  the  former  should  always 
be  selected  in  preference  to  the  latter. 

The  use  of  clover  offers  the  most  advantages.  The 
clover  roots  go  down  into  the  subsoil,  often  to  the 
depth  of  many  feet,  and  here  forage  for  mineral 
food  supplies  unavailable  for  other  crops,  or  out  of 
their  reach,  and  arrest  the  nitrogen  that  in  the 
form  of  nitrate  may  be  ready  to  escape  into  the 
drains,  or  into  the  depth  of  lower  strata.  All  these 
foods  are  brought  up  nearer  to  the  surface,  and 
held  there  in  readiness  for  use  by  other  crops  after 
the  clover  has  decayed. 

Mechanically,   also,   clover   has    advantages    not 
possessed  by  the  other  plants  named.     The  lower 
parts  of  the  roots  which  are  not  reached  by  the 
plow,  and  are  therefore  left  to  decay 
cfotir  and7.«.    ^^ere  tliey  grow,  will  leave  a  multi- 
tude  of  little  tubes  or  channels,  per- 
forating the  lower  stratum  like  a  honey-comb,  and 
allowing  the  air  to  pass  down  freely  into  the  depth 
of  the  soil,   thereby  subjecting  it  to  more  rapid 
changes,  hurrying  up  the  decomposition  of   vege- 
table matter,  and  thus  adding  warmth  and  promoting 
healthy  growth. 

The  only  objection  to  the  use  of  clover  as  manure 
crop  is  the  comparatively  long  period  needed  for  its 
growth.  In  peas  we  have  a  crop  that  can  be  pro- 
duced in  short  order,  and  that  will  make  humus 
and  gather  nitrogen  from  the  air,  but  their  roots  are 


140  PRACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

surface  feeding,  and  do  not  bring  up  plant  foods 
from  the  subsoil.  The  black  pea  or  southern  cow 
bean  is  one  of  the  best  plants  for  the  purpose.  The 
cases  are  few,  I  think,  where  it  would  be  advisable 
to  use  rye  or  buckwheat  for  green  manuring.  The 
roots  of  clover  and  other  leguminous  plants  have 
swellings  or  tubercles,  caused  and  inhabited  by 
bacteria  which  are  the  real  nitrogen  gatherers. 

Green  vegetable  matter  is  not  plant  food.     To 

promote  its  speedy  decay,  and  fit  it  for  the  use  of 

other  crops,  we  may  plow  it  under  just  deep  enough 

to  keep  it  moist,  and  shallow  enough 

Gre^^cfops.  ^^^  ^^^^  access  of  air.  The  drainage  on 
soil  thus  manured  should  be  perfect, 
and  the  surface  kept  well  tilled.  If  lime  is  absent 
in  the  soil,  its  application  will  be  needed,  in  order 
to  hasten  the  decay  of  the  vegetable  matter  and 
prevent  acid  fermentation. 

The  next  query  is,  how  much  of  the  minerals 
should  be  applied  along  with  the  green  manure  in 
ordinary  grain  farming,  if  we  desire  to  maintain  our 
standard  of  fertility?  The  object  might  be  accom- 
plished by  one  of  the  following  applications,  viz. : 

1.  600  pounds  (18  bushels)  unleached  wood  ashes. 

1 00  pounds  of  bone  meal  (or  150  pounds  of  acid  phosphate). 

2.  75  pounds  muriate  of  potash  (or  300  pounds  kainit). 

200  pounds  acid  phosphate  (dissolved  bone  black)  or  140 
pounds  bone  meal. 

3.  100  pounds  cotton  seed  hull  ashes. 

100  pounds  slag  meal  (or  150  pounds  acid  phosphate), 

or  in  any  other  combination  that  will  furnish  about 
the  same  quantity  of  potash  and  phosphoric  acid. 


TWENTY-FOURTH   CHAPTER, 


PLANT  FOODS  NEEDED  IN  ORDINARY 
CROP  ROTATION. 


"IITHEAT,  clover,  potatoes,  corn,  oats — that  or  a 
similar  one  is  the  five-year  crop  rotation 
quite  generally  practiced  by  good  farmers  at  the 
north.  With  slight  variations  or  modifications  it  is 
sometimes  kept  up  on  the  same  place  for  many 
years.  Of  course  we  desire  to  know  the  amount  of 
plant  foods  that  we  remove  from  the  soil  in  these 
crops.  A  fairly  good  yield  per  acre  is  approxi- 
mately as  follows:  thirty  bushels  of  wheat;  two 
tons  of  clover  hay;  200  bushels  of  potatoes;  fifty 
bushels  of  corn;  and  forty-five  bushels  of  oats.  A 
good  farmer,  who  knows  how  to  make  farming  pay, 
rarely  raises  less,  and  often  more,  provided  the  land 
had  not  been  run  to  death  before  he  came  in  posses- 
sion of  it,  or  during  his  early  occupancy,  while  he 
was  yet  without  experience  in  feeding  his  crops. 
During  the    five-year    period  the  following  plant 


142 


PEACTICAL  FARM  CHEMISTRY. 


foods,  approximately,  are  taken  off  each  acre  of 
ground,  viz. : 


Nitrogen, 
Lbt. 

Phosph. 
Acid,  LbB. 

Potash. 
Lbs. 

In  30  bushels  of  wheat,  includ'g  straw. 

In  2  tons  of  clover 

In  200  bushels  of  potatoes 

In  50  bushels  of  corn,  includ'g  stalks. 
In  45  bushels  of  oats,  includ'g  straw. 

60 

120 
47 
67 
52 

23 
27 
24 
25 
19 

35 
93 
75 

58 
38 

Total 

846 

118 

299 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  nitrogen,  however, 
was  drawn  from  the  air  by  the  agency  of  the  clover; 
another,  smaller,  part  probably  was  washed  down 
from  the  atmosphere  in  rains.  The  exact  amount 
of  these  outside  contributions,  however,  cannot  be 
determined,  and  we  must  be  contented  with  a  very 
rough  estimate. 

Suppose  that  the  nitrogen  from  these  sources 
amounts  to  not  much  more  than  fifty  pounds,  the 
soil  is  yet  called  on,  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  de- 
mands of  the  five  crops,  to  furnish  296  pounds  of 
nitrogen,  118  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid,  and  299 
pounds  of  potash.  Thirty  tons  of  average  good 
barnyard  manure  contains  about  300  pounds  of  ni- 
trogen, 120  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid,  and  300 
pounds  of  potash — or  almost  exactly  the  amount 
needed  for  the  production  of  the  liYe  crops.  Such 
manure  application  (an  aggregate  of  thirty  tons  of 
stable  manure  per  acre  during  a  period  of  five  years) 
can  not  be  called  excessive.  It  is  practiced  by  many 
farmers,  and  seldom  barren  of  the  most  satisfactory 
results.  In  most  cases  it  will  not  only  maintain, 
but  actually  improve  the  original  soil  fertility.     If 


A   FIVE   YEAR   ROTATION.  143 

larger  crops  are  grown,  of  course  the  applications 
might  be  increased  correspondingly. 

The  wisdom  of  such  a  rotation  must  be  apparent 
to  every  good  observer  and  calculator.  The  propor- 
tion of  the  three  substances  of  plant  food  in  stable 
manure  is  so  near  like  that  demanded  by  the  five 
crops  of  the  rotation,  that  the  balance  of  the  soil 
fertility  can  be  maintained  perfectly  by  the  exclu- 
sive use  of  such  domestic  manures.  Other  grain 
crops  might  occasionally  be  substituted  for  wheat 

and  oats,  and  root  crops  for  potatoes, 
"^^cr^pping.'   without    material    change    in     the 

general  result.  The  gross  returns  per 
acre  for  the  five  years  will  be  $150  or  upward,  and 
it  seems  that  we  could  well  afford  to  apply  thirty 
tons  of  yard  manure  to  secure  that  result.  But  in 
case  this  quantity  is  not  at  hand,  nor  to  be  had  by 
purchase,  what  then  ? 

In  the  first  place  we  should  use  all  the  yard  man- 
ure that  is  available  for  the  purpose;  and  secondly 
we  should  supply  the  deficiency  by  other  means. 
The  one  problem  that  might  bother  us,  is  where  to 
get  the  large  amount  of  nitrogen  1  The  article  is 
rather  costly,  and  but  scantily  supplied  in  the  con- 
centrated fertilizers  usually  available  for  the  farmer. 
In  such  emergency  we  may  have  recourse  to  green 
manuring.  A  crop  of  clover  or  peas  will  help  us  to 
draw  on  the  inexhaustible  nitrogen  supply  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  to  transfer  the  needed  quantity  to 
the  soil.  The  minerals  are  then  easily  and  cheaply 
supplied  in  the  form  of  ashes,  or  of  potash  salts, 
and  phosphates,  etc ,  as  explained  in  preceding 
chapter.  On  the  other  hand  this  makes  the  addition 
of  one  year  to  the  five-year  period  necessary.  In 
that  case  clover  might  again  be  wedged  in  between 


144  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

oats  and  wheat.  It  may  be  sown  with  the  oats  and 
plowed  under  by  August  1st  of  the  following  year 
for  the  succeeding  wheat  crop.  Then  apply  a  mod- 
erate quantity  of  the  mineral  plant  foods  as  sug- 
gested before,  and  but  little  additional  manuring 
with  yard  manure  will  be  required  to  maintain  our 
standard  of  soil  fertility.  If  the  clover,  however, 
has  failed  to  catch,  on  account  of  poor  seed,  or  neg- 
lect to  sow  it,  it  will  yet  be  time  between  spring  and 
wheat  sowing  to  grow  and  plow  in  one  or  two  crops 
of  ordinary  field  peas.  Plant  thickly  enough  to 
have  the  whole  ground  covered,  and  plow  under 
when  fully  developed.  The  ashes,  phosphates,  etc., 
may  be  applied  before  the  first  pea  crop  is  sown, 
and  will  then  help  to  bring  out  a  large  growth  of 
vines  to  be  plowed  under. 

This  green  manuring  is  usually  the  best  and 
cheapest  way  of  furnishing  the  needed  nitrogen, 
when  we  have  no  yard  manure,  or  not  enough  of  it. 
Still  if  we  have  a  good  muck  bed,  easily  accessible, 
we  may  make  use  of  it  in  the  preparation  of  artifi- 
cial yard  manure,  as  told  in  Chapter  Nineteenth. 


TWENTY-FIFTH   CHAPTER. 


FEEDING  OUR  FRUIT  AND  VEGETABLE 
CROPS. 


A  N  ALTOGETHER  different  phase  of  the  manure 
"^  question  from  any  we  liave  struck  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages,  is  met  with  on  farms  or  lands  devoted 
to  fruit  growing  or  vegetable  gardening.  Com- 
plaints about  the  ineffectiveness  of  applications  of 
bone  meal  or  other  plain  phosphates  or  superphos- 
phates to  orchards,  vineyards,  small  fruit  patches, 
and  vegetable  gardens  are  nothing  at  all  uncommon. 
Yet  such  negative  results  are  just  the  ones  that 
should  have  been  expected.  Why?  Because  the 
substances  named  have  little  or  nothing  of  value  be- 
sides phosphoric  acid  of  which  fruit  and  garden 
crops  require  only  very  small  quantities. 

The  following  table  will  show,  approximately, 
what  great  demands  for  potash  fruit  and  vegetable 
crops  are  making  on  the  soil.     This  table  gives  the 


146 


PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 


number  of  pounds  of  the  principal  plant  foods  re- 
moved in  a  full  crop. 


Full  Crop  per  Acre. 


Apples,  15  tons 

Pears,  10  tons 

Plums,  2  tons 

Grapes,  4  tons 

Berries,  1^  tons 

Sugar  Beets,  20  tons 

Carrots,  20  tons 

Mangolds.  20  tons . . 
Turnips,  20  tons  . . . 
Onions 


Nitrogen, 

Potash. 

Lbs. 

Lbs. 

30 

45 

12 

36 

16 

8 

13 

40 

7 

110 

72 

70 

150 

90 

160 

75 

110 

32 

26 

Phosph. 
Acid,  Lbs. 


3 
10 

2 
12 

2i 
12 
24 
18 
25 


In  all  this  we  have  not  yet  taken  any  account  of  the 
plant  foods  that  have  gone  into  the  foliage  and  the 
wood  of  the  trees  and  bushes.  Here  again  potash  is 
just  the  substance  needed  in  considerable  quantity. 
The  leaves  dropping  in  autumn  may  remain  on  the 
ground  under  the  trees  and  bushes,  and  thus  return 
their  constituents  to  the  soil,  or  they  may  be  blown 
away  by  the  autumn  gales  into  fence  corners,  road 
sides  and  ditches,  and  thus  be  lost  to  the  soil.  The 
prunings  also  may  be  burned  up  in  the  orchard  or 
fruit  patch  giving  their  mineral  constituents  back  to 
the  soil,  or  they  may  be  carted  off  and  burned  in 
some  back  field,  where  the  ashes  will  do  no  good  to 
the  orchard.  Usually  there  is  from  these  sources 
at  least  some  loss,  chiefly  in  potash,  that  together 
with  what  the  fruit  crop  has  taken  off,  will  have  to 
be  made  good  again  by  applications  of  manure. 

The  table  here  given  may  not  be  more  than  ap- 
proximately correct,  yet  it  shows  that  in  fruit  crops 
we  remove  from  the  soil  an  amount  of  potash,  ten, 
fifteen,  and  often  more  times  as  large  as  that  of 
phosphoric  acid.     Many  farmers  imagine  that  or- 


MANURES   FOR  FRUIT   CROPS.  147 

chards  need  no  manuring.  Perhaps  a  crop  of  grass 
with  all  its  large  amount  of  potash  is  taken  off  be- 
sides. With  such  great  and  incessant  drain  on  the 
potash  supply,  it  will  not  be  long  before  that  supply- 
is  getting  too  short  to  allow  healthy  growth  of  tree, 
vine  or  bush,  and  a  full  crop  of  fruit. 

Phosphoric  acid  is  used  in  only  small  quantities. 
For  these  reasons  bone  meal,  phosphates,  etc.,  alone, 
are  not  what  is  wanted  for  a  fruit  tree  manure. 
Potash  is  needed  more  than  any  other  substance, 
and  unleached  wood  ashes  is  one  of  the  best  forms 
— if  not  the  very  best — in  which  this  can  be  applied. 
Where  good  ashes  can  be  bought  at  ten  to  fifteen 
cents  a  bushel  we  will  not  often  be  able  to  get  a 
better  or  cheaper  orchard  fertilizer. 

Prof.  C.  C.  James  of  Ontario,  Canada,  recom- 
mended at  a  recent  fruitgrowers'  meeting  the  follow- 
ing formula  for  compounding  a  cheap  and  effective 
orchard  fertilizer: 

40  bushels  of  unleached  ashes. 
100  pounds  of  crushed  or  ground  bone. 
100  pounds  of  sulphate  of  ammonia,  or  nitrate  of  soda. 

This  quantity  is  to  be  applied  at  least  once  in  two 
or  three  years.  It  supplies  about  120  pounds  of 
potash,  twenty-three  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid, 
and  twenty  pounds  of  nitrogen. 

Nitrogen,  if  such  be  needed  in  greater  quantities, 
can  often  be  obtained  in  a  much  cheaper  way  by  the 
help  of  crops  that  are  nitrogen  gatherers  (such  as 
clovers  and  peas,  which  should  be  left  on  the 
ground  to  decay),  than  by  outside  applications. 

In  a  majority  of  cases,  perhaps,  yard  manure  is 
the  only  form  in  which  plant  food  is  ever  given 
back  to  the  orchard  and  fruit  garden.  Twelve  tons 
of  it  will  furnish  the  120  pounds  of  potash  needed, 


148  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

but  also  two  or  three  times  as  much  phosphoric  acid 
and  nitrogen,  as  required  for  the  crops.  It  will  hardly 
be  good  economy,  therefore,  to  use  yard  manure  ex- 
clusively, especially  if  we  should  have  to  purchase 
it  at  anything  like  its  full  value.  The  cheaper  way 
would  be  to  apply  a  smaller  quantity  of  yard  man- 
ure, say  one-half  the  named  quantity,  or  six  tons, 
every  second  or  third  year,  and  add  to  it  the  missing 
sixty  pounds  of  potash  in  the  form  of  unleached 
wood  ashes,  com  cob  ashes,  cotton  seed  hull  ashes, 
muriate  of  potash,  sulphate  of  potash,  kainit,  etc. 
Tobacco  refuse  may  also  come  handy  as  a  source  of 
potash  in  this  emergency.  Tobacco  dust  can  be 
applied  directly  to  the  soil.  Stems  may  be  either 
used  as  mulch,  or  composted  with  the  yard  manure. 
My  ration  for  the  yard  manure  and  potash  salts 
combine  would  be  six  tons  of  the  former,  and  120 
pounds  of  muriate  or  sulphate  of  potash,  or  500 
pounds  of  kainit;  and  would  prefer  to  apply  this 
every  second  year  at  least. 

We  should  fully  understand,  however,  that  sim- 
ple phosphates  alone  are  no  manure  for  fruit  crops. 
Potash,  on  the  other  hand,  is  the  chief 

^rruit8^°'    substance  needed,  and  we  can  not  easily 

apply  it  in  too  large  doses  for  fruits.     A 

sufficiency  of  potash  makes  bush  and  tree  fruits 

firmer,  sweeter,   better  in  flavor,  and  renders   the 

wood  more  resistent  to  severe  cold. 

Vegetable  crops  usually  make  still  heavier  drafts 
on  the  potash  stores  of  the  soil  than  fruit  crops.  In 
carrots,  mangolds  or  turnips,  for  instance  we  remove 
over  100  pounds  of  potash  per  acre  if  the  crop  be 
simply  a  fair  one,  and  perhaps  over  200  pounds,  if 
it  be  a  heavy  one.  This  loss,  of  course,  is  usually 
made  up  by  heavy  dressings  of  yard  manure,  every 


POTASH  POK  VEGETABLE  CKOPS.       149 

ton  of  which  returns  to  the  soil  about  ten  pounds  of 
potash.  This  calls  for  applications  of  at  least  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  tons  of  such  manure  per  acre  for 
every  crop,  and  for  larger  ones,  where  very  large 
yields  are  obtained  or  aimed  at.  In  any  event,  yard 
manure  will  be  found  a  most  excellent  fertilizer  for 
these  crops,  and  one  of  the  best  means  to  maintain 
the  balance  of  soil  fertility. 

The  query  now  comes  up,  what  to  do  in  case  that 
yard  manure  is  not  available?  Perhaps  the  grower, 
following  the  advice  given  by  even  expert  gardeners, 
has  used  bone  flour,  or  other  phosphates,  for  some 
time  as  a  substitute  for  yard  manure.  He  may 
have  been  very  liberal  in  his  applications,  using  a 
ton  or  more  per  acre:  yet  in  all  this  dressing  he  has 
not  furnished  a  single  pound  of  the  potash  so 
urgently  needed,  only  a  large  quantity  of  phos- 
phoric acid,  for  which  his  crop  has  little  use.  Con- 
sequently the  crops  must  soon  suffer  for  the  want  of 
potash,  and  perhaps  of  nitrogen. 

Having  made  the  correct  soil  diagnosis  again,  the 
proper  treatment  is  easily  prescribed.  Apply  pot- 
ash and  perhaps  some  quickly  available  nitrogen. 
My  rations,  in  such  case,  would  be  about  as  follows, 
per  acre,  viz  : 

1.  50  to  100  bushels  of  unleached  ashes. 
200  to  400  pounds  of  nitrate  of  soda. 

The  phosphoric  acid,  contained  in  the  ashes,  would 
do  no  harm,  and  in  some  cases  may  be  needed. 

2.  200  to  350  pounds  of  sulphate  or  muriate  of  potash. 
200  to  400  pounds  of  nitrate  of  soda. 

Cotton  seed  hull  ashes,  corn  cob  ashes,  composts  of 
tobacco  refuse,  with  other  substances,  can  also  be 
used  to  good  advantage  for  the  purpose  of  furnish- 
ing the  needed  potash. 


TWENTY-SIXTH  CHAPTER 


MANURES    FOR    FARM    AND    MARKET 
GARDENS. 


TN  THE  heavy  dressings  of  compost  which  the 
professional  market  gardeners  and  truckers  give 
to  their  lands  year  after  year,  and  for  an  indefinite 
period,  immense  quantities  of  the  mineral  plant 
foods  are  put  into  the  soil,  most  of  which  are  left  to 
accumulate  to  an  extent  that  few  people  would 
imagine. 

If  the  average  yearly  application  amounts  to  fifty 

tons  per  acre  (an  estimate  that  can  hardly  be  con- 

mdered  too  high,  as  many  gardeners  use  much  more 

on  their  highly  cropped  lands)  each 

Accumulation     acre  receives  in  the  1,000  tons  put  on 

of  Mineral  -,       •  ^  ,  •    j        ^  i 

Plant  Foods.      during  a  twenty  year  period  not  less 

than  from  8,000  to  10,000  pounds  of 
potash,  and  from  4,000  to  5,000  pounds  of  phos- 
phoric acid.  Only  a  small  part  of  these  minerals  is 
removed  again  in  the  crops,  even  where  large  yields 
are  obtained.  Twenty  onion  crops  of  600  bushels 
each,  or  their  equivalent  in  other  succulent  market 
and  farm  garden  crops,  consume  less  than   1,000 


NITROGEN   FOR  GARDEN   CROPS.  151 

pounds  each  of  potash  and  phosphoric  acid;  conse- 
quently there  would  be  an  accumulation,  during  the 
time  stated,  of  over  7,000  to  9,000  pounds  of  potash, 
and  over  3,000  to  4,000  pounds  of  phosphoric  acid 
to  each  acre.  The  bulk  of  these  substances  is 
probably  distributed  through  the  surface  soil  to  the 
depth  of,  say,  eight  or  ten  inches.  Consequently 
this  whole  surface  layer  is  as  rich  in  mineral  plant 
foods  as  the  very  best  of  ordinary  compost.  To 
continue  the  annual  dressings  of  the  same  kind  of 
manure  would  be  like  carrying  coal  to  Newcastle, 
or  water  to  the  sea. 

Such  heavy  dressings  are  expensive,  no  matter 
whether  we  produce  the  manure  on  the  place,  or 
have  to  purchase  it.  Every  pound  of  potash  in  the 
manure  has  a  commercial  value  of  more  than  four 
cents,  and  every  pound  of  phosphoric  acid  a  value 
of  about  six  cents.  The  quantities  already  put  into 
the  soil  represent  an  investment  of  $600  or 
more,  and  this  gives  no  immediate  returns  of  any 
kind.  Why  should  we  invest  more  money  in  bonds 
that  bear  no  interest,  and  have  a  long  time  to  run? 

But  while  the  soil  itself  may  have  become  richer 
in  mineral  plant  foods  than  even  the  barnyard 
manure  itself,  no  corresponding  accumulation  of 
nitrogen  has  taken  place.  It  can  not  be  said  that 
the  soil  is  destitute  of  that  element.  Most  of  the 
crops  which  the  market  gardener  pro- 
Niteogen  Needed,  ^^^^s,  consume  nitrogen  faster  than 
mineral  plant  foods;  and  besides 
there  is  more  or  less  loss  of  nitrates  by  leaching. 
While  there  may  be  a  considerable  supply  of  nitro- 
gen in  the  soil,  there  is  at  least  no  accumulation  of 
the  available  form  of  this  element. 

The  market  gardener's  success  depends  in  a  large 


152  PKACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

measure  on  the  earliness  of  his  crops,  as  well  as  on 
the  succulency  of  his  products.  Nitrogen  in  nitrate 
form  is  just  the  element  of  plant  food  of  which  a 
generous  sujjply  is  needed  for  the  production  of 
thrifty,  vigorous,  succulent  growth.  When  he 
wants  to  sow  his  seed,  or  set  his  plants,  early  in 
spring,  he  knows  his  soil  to  be  already  filled  with 
mineral  plant  foods  from  previous  manuring.  The 
nitrogen  alone  is  not  in  the  available  (nitrate)  form, 
and  its  conversion  into  nitrate  during  the  cool  days 
of  early  spring  is  extremely  slow — too  slow  for  the 
needs  of  the  crop. 

The  average  gardener,  in  this  emergency,  again 

applies  his  fifty    tons  of    compost,   and   uselessly 

adds  several  hundred  pounds  each  of  potash  and 

phosphoric  acid  to  the  over- supply 

?i*the  Garden*  ^^  *^^  ^^^1'  I^^^'ely  ^^r  the  purpose 
of  furnishing  to  his  crops  a  meagre 
amount  of  nitrate,  which  is  gradually  derived,  by 
the  process  of  natural  conversion,  from  the  500 
pounds  of  unavailable  nitrogen  in  the  manure  ap- 
plication. In  some  cases,  bone  flour,  or  perhaps 
complete  concentrated  manures,  are  used  with  simi- 
lar results  and  similar  waste  of  mineral  plant  foods. 
The  few  per  cent  of  nitrogen  in  these  fertilizing  ma- 
terials are  the  only  effective  agent,  while  the  phos- 
phoric acid  in  the  bone  flour,  or  the  potash  and 
phosphoric  acid  in  the  complete  fertilizer,  are  added 
to  the  stores  in  the  soil,  because  not  needed  for  the 
crop  in  their  full  quantities.  These  are — to  say  the 
least— -round-about  ways.  The  only  direct  method 
of  supplying  the  deficiency,  and  by  far  the  cheapest, 
is  by  the  use  of  nitrate  of  soda,  or,  in  some  cases, 
sulphate  of  ammonia.  Nitrate  of  soda  will  answer 
our  purpose  admirably.     It  can  usually  be  bought 


SOWING    NITRATE    OF    SODA.  153 

at  about  forty-five  dollars  per  ton,  and  contains 
fifteen  to  sixteen  per  cent  of  nitrogen  in  just  the 
form  in  which  it  can  serve  at  once  for  plant  food,  no 
matter  whether  it  is  in  cold  or  warm  weather.  In 
early  spring,  when  the  natural  conversion  of  am- 
monia into  nitrate  is  too  slow  for  the  rapid  growth 
of  plants,  an  application  of  250  or  300  pounds  of  ni- 
trate of  soda  per  acre  on  rich  garden  soils  will  have 
fully  as  good  effects  as  that  of  the  fifty  tons  of  com- 
post, and  in  most  cases  better  aud  quicker  ones.  If 
we  compare  the  cost  of  the  two  applications,  we  will 
find  that  the  use  of  nitrate  of  soda  means  a  clear 
saving  of  over  $100  per  acre.  What  a  waste  of  am- 
munition is  still  going  on,  in  consequence  of  this 
'  'shooting  in  the  dark  ! ' ' 

The  question:    How  shall  I  mix  the  nitrate  of 
soda,  and  how  shall  I  apply  it  ?  is  quite  often  ad- 
dressed to  me.     When  freshly  received,  the  nitrate 
is  usually  of  uniform  fineness,  re- 
^"""jf^so^a'*^^      sembling.  ordinary  salt,  clean  and 
convenient  to  handle,  and  may  be 
sown  broadcast  over  the  land  as   one  would  sow 
wheat.     If  exposed  to  dampness,  however,  it  will 
become  very  lumpy.     In  such  case,  empty  the  ni- 
trate upon  the  barn  floor,  break  up  the  lumps  with 
a  flail  or  mallet,  and  sift;  then  sow  it.     A  consider- 
able portion  usually  adheres  to  the  bags.     These, 
when  empty,  should  therefore  be  soaked  in  water, 
and  the  latter  applied  to  growing  crops. 

In  sowing  the  dry,  sifted  nitrate,  I  have  always 
thrown  it  promiscuously,  and  perhaps  carelessly, 
over  the  crops  just  starting,  such  as  onions,  beets, 
lettuce,  spinach,  celery  and  cabbage  plants,  etc.,  and 
I  never  had  occasion  to  complain  of  injury  to  the 
foliage.     When  plants,  such   as  lettuce,  cabbage. 


154  PRACTICAL   FARM   CHEMISTRY. 

etc.,  have  reached  some  size,  however,  we  should 
use  more  care,  for  if  much  of  the  nitrate  lodges  in 
the  heart  of  a  plant,  and  slowly  dissolves  there,  it 
often  does  considerable  injury  to  the  foliage.  I  al- 
ways use  it  alone  by  itself,  and  fail  to  see  a  single 
reason  in  favor  of  mixing  it  with  any  other  fertilizer 
before  sowing,  although  it  could  be  mixed  and  ap- 
plied without  loss,  if  the  other  articles  to  be  mixed 
with  it — perhaps  wood  ashes,  phosphates,  etc. — are 
perfectly  dry  and  the  mixture  is  to  be  used  imme- 
diately. 

My  practice  always  has  been  to  apply  nitrate  of 
soda  in  small  and  often  repeated  rations,  perhaps 
fifty  to  one  hundred  pounds  per  acre,  once  in  eight 
or  ten  days,  during  the  earlier  stages  of  growth  of 
the  crops.  While  I  am  well  satisfied  with  the  re- 
sults of  this  mode  of  application,  I  do  not  fear  that 
a  very  great  loss  would  follow  a  single  and  large 
application — say  of  300  to  400  pounds — at  time  of 
planting. 

In  localities  far  from  the  sea  shores,  cotton-seed 
meal  may  often  be  employed  to  best  advantage  for 
the  purpose  of  supplying  the  deficient  nitrogen,  but 
the  effect  can  not  be  expected  to  be  so  prompt  as 
that  of  nitrate  of  soda.  Use  1,200  to  2,000  pounds 
per  acre,  and  apply  broadcast  by  means  of  a  fertil- 
izer drill  before  planting. 

Sulphate  of  ammonia,  a  clean,  fine  salt-like  sub- 
stance, can  be  sown  by  hand,  in  same  way  as  nitrate 
of  soda,  and  about  in  same  aggregate  quantity,  but 
all  in  one  application  just  before  planting. 


TWENTY-SEVENTH  CHAPTER. 


FERTILIZERS    FOR    MUCKY    SOILS. 


T^HE  reverse  of  the  conditions  found  in  old,  heavy- 

*       manured  market  gardens,    are  met  with  on 

soils  of  a  mucky  or  peaty  character,  which  are  often 

used  for  the  production  of   vegetable  crops,  like 

onions,  celery,  carrots,  mangels  and 

Minerals  for      ^^^leT  roots.     These  soils  have  all  the 

Muck  Lands. 

nitrogen  that  the  crops,  especially 
for  the  later  ones  usually  planted  on  them,  may 
need.  The  minerals,  however — phosphoric  acid  and 
especially  potash — are  likely  to  be  in  very  scant 
supply. 

The  mechanical  texture  of  such  soils  may  be 
improved  by  additions  of  sand,  clay,  lime,  coal 
ashes,  etc.;  but  to  maintain  or  increase  their  pro- 
ductive capacity,  applications  of  phosphoric  acid 
and  potash  in  some  form  are  required,  while 
those  of  nitrogen  would  in  most  cases  be  super- 
fluous, and  consequently  wasteful.  If  we  make  use 
of  barnyard  manure  for  the  purpose  of  enriching 


156  PRACTICAL   FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

muck  lands,  we  just  about  throw  away  $1.50 
worth  of  nitrogen,  in  order  to  get  the  use  of 
twenty-five  cents'  worth  of  phosphoric  acid  and 
fifty-live  or  sixty  cents'  worth  of  potash.  The  muck 
needs  neither  this  nitrogen,  nor  the  mechanical  ac- 
tion of  the  bulky  organic  manure.  Hence,  we 
might  use  the  latter  to  much  better  advantage  for 
other  purposes,  and  on  soils  where  all  its  constitu- 
ents and  good  qualities  are  likely  to  be  utilized  and 
appreciated. 

In  wood  ashes,  either  leached  or  unleached,  we 
have  the  most  serviceable  and  often  the  very  cheap- 
est manurial  substance  for  peat  and  muck  soils.  If 
the  ashes  are  leached,  their  proportion  of  potash 
and  phosphoric  acid  is  about  right  for  the  uses  of 
the  crops;  if  unleached,  it  may  be  made  right  by 
the  addition  of  superphosphate,  Thomas'  slag,  or 
other  phosphatic  manures.  Thus,  we  might  mix 
2,000  pounds  of  unleached  wood  ashes  and  400 
pounds  of  phosphatic  guano,   or  Thomas'  slag,  or 

bone  charcoal,  or  dissolved  bone,  or  dis- 
^Muck°'      solved  rock,  or  perhaps  bone  meal;  we 

would  have  a  fertilizer  analyzing  about 
4  per  cent  of  potash  and  4^  per  cent  of  phos- 
phoric acid.  In  grain  farming,  a  greater  x^roportion 
of  the  phosphatic  manures  might  be  preferable;  for 
potatoes  and  root  crops,  even  a  smaller  proportion 
would  answer.  As  a  general  purpose  manure,  how- 
ever, I  believe  the  proportions  given  are  not  much 
out  of  the  way.  The  question  now  is,  how  much  of 
this  fertilizer  should  be  aj^plied?  This  depends  on 
the  crop  to  be  grown.  For  ordinary  cereals,  a  dress- 
ing of  500  to  800  pounds  would  undoubtedly  give  us 
comparatively  large  results.  The  expense  of  this 
application  will  probably  range  between  five  and  ten 


FERTILIZERS    FOR   MUCK    SOILS.  157 

dollars  per  acre,  according  to  the  price  you  have  to 
pay  for  the  ashes  and  phosphates.  Leached  ashes 
should  be  used  more  liberally,  one  to  two  tons  per 
acre  not  being  any  too  much. 

In  case  ashes  are  not  to  be  had,  or  too  dear,  we 
must  rely  on  other  forms  of  potash,  and  I  would 
recommend  any  of  the  following  formulae,  viz. : 

1.  1,000  pounds  phosphatic  guano   (or  dissolved  bone  or 

rock;  or  Thomas' slag). 
1,000  pounds  Kainit; 

Cost  per  ton  about  $20.00.  For  grains  and  grasses. 
Quantity  per  acre,  300  to  500  pounds,  applied  in  fall, 
winter  or  early  spring. 

2.  1,000  pounds  superphosphate    (dissolved  bone,    or  its 

equivalent), 
1,000  pounds  sulphate  of  potash  (if  high  grade,  the  pro- 
portion should  be  changed  to  about   1,200  pounds 
superphosphate  and  800  pounds  sulphate  of  potash). 

Cost  per  ton,  $35.00  to  $40.00.  For  potatoes,  root 
crops  and  general  garden  vegetables.  Quantity  per 
acre,  from  600  to  800  pounds  or  more.  If  muriate  or 
kainit  are  substituted  for  the  sulphate  of  potash, 
the  application  should  be  made  in  winter  or  early  in 
spring. 

The  chlorides  in  these  potash  salts  are  quite 
abundant,  and  should  be  given  a  chance  to  be 
washed  out  of  the  soil,  as  otherwise  they  are  often 
injurious,  if  ai)plied  in  liberal  doses. 

3.  1,000  pounds  cotton-seed  hull  ashes, 

1 ,000  pounds  superphosphate  in  any  of  its  forms. 

Cost  per  ton,  $22.00  to  $28.00.  For  grains  and  grasses. 
Quantity  per  acre,  from  250  to  300  pounds.  For  po- 
tatoes, root  crops,  and  garden  vegetables,  use  more 
cotton-seed  hull  ashes  and  less  phosphatic  manures. 


TWENTY-EIGHTH  CHAPTER 


TESTS  OF  SOIL  FERTILITY. 


In  many  cases, ^^ the  farmer  can  not  easily  get  at 
the  record  of  the  crops  that  have  been  taken  off  the 
fields,  nor  of  the  treatment  given  to  them  since  they 
were  put  under  cultivation,  and  consequently  he 
has  no  data  upon  which  to  base  his  estimate  of  the 
probable  condition  of  the  soil.  In  such  cases,  plants 
may  be  utilized  as  soil  analyzers.  The  great  diffi- 
culties we  meet  with  in  this  matter  are  the  variety 
of  soils  found  on  every  farm,  and  the  fact  that  there 
are  seldom  two  fields  alike,  and  each  may  have  to 
be  examined  for  itself,  making  this  task  of  plat 
testing  rather  complicated  and  laborious.  On  the 
whole,  however,  such  plat  tests  are  easily  made. 
First,  divide  the  piece  for  each  test  in  strips  of  equal 
uniform  width,  and  then  apply  the  various  simple 
plant  foods,  one  kind  to  a  strip.  To  the  first  one 
for  instance,  we  may  apply  a  simple  superphosphate 
(dissolved  bone-black  or  South  Carolina  rock),  or 
perhaps  Thomas'  slag;  to  the  second,  nitrate  of  soda 
or  sulphate  of  ammonia;  to  the  third,  sulphate  of 


TESTS   FOR   SOIL   FERTILITY.  159 

potash  or  muriate  of  potash;  to  the  fourth,  wood 
ashes  (phosphoric  acid  and  potash);  to  the  fifth, 
common  saltpeter  (nitrogen  and  potash);  to  the 
sixth,  bone  flour  (nitrogen  and  phosphoric  acid);  to 
the  seventh,  a  concentrated,  complete  manure,  and 
to  the  eighth,  a  dressing  of  yard  manure.  Of  course 
this  arrangement  may  be  varied  according  to  con- 
venience or  notion.  Or,  the  substances  used  in  the 
tests  may  be  restricted  to  a  plain  superphosphate, 
a  potash  salt,  and  sulphate  of  ammonia,  or  nitrate 
of  soda,  alone  as  well  as  in  connection  with  one 
another.  The  plat  is  then  divided  into  strips  across 
the  first  division,  and  one  of  them  planted  to  wheat 
or  oats,  another  to  corn,  a  third  to  potatoes,  a  fourth 
to  clover,  etc.  The  harvest  will  most  likely  give 
some  indication  of  what  element  or  elements  of 
plant  food  are  needed. 

If,  for  instance,  the  complete  manures  give  the 
best  results,  we  are  justified  in  the  assumption  that 
the  soil  lacks  all  three  chief  plant  foods;  and  if,  at 
the  same  time,  the  plat  fertilized  with  plain  super- 
phosphate gives  next  best  crops,  it  will  show  pretty 
plainly  that  phosphoric  acid  is  the  very  first  need 
to  be  supplied,  and  it  would  be  a  question  to  our 
mind  whether  barnyard  manure,  with  its  rather 
scant  supply  of  that  element,  would  exactly  fill  the 
bill,  unless  supplemented  by  an  additional  dressing 
of  plain  phosphate  or  superphosphate.  Whatever 
element  or  elements  of  plant  food  show  the  most 
marked  results  from  their  application,  are  the  ones 
of  which  the  soil  is  most  in  need,  and  which  can  be 
expected  to  give  good  results  at  least  for  a  time. 

I  am  well  aware  of  the  aversion  that  most  farmers 
have  to  "  fussing"  in  this  manner,  and  of  the  diffi- 
culty, in  many  cases,  of  obtaining  a  supply  of  the 


160  PRACTICAL    FARM    CHEMISTRY. 

substances  named  in  small  quantities  at  a  reason- 
ably cheap  figure.  Even  without  actual  trial  of 
chemical  fertilizers,  however,  we  can  get  an  estimate 
of  the  needs  of  the  soil  by  the  appearance  of  the 
plants.  If  all  our  crops,  under  fair,  atmospheric 
conditions,  come  up  with  a  rich,  dark  green  color, 
and  grow  luxuriantly,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  soil 
is  well  provided  with  nitrogen.  If  they  are  yellow 
and  sickly  from  the  start,  this  element,  most  likely, 
is  in  scant  supply.  Nitrate  of  soda,  in  such  case, 
will  usually  make  a  great  improvement,  and  this 
very  promptly.  Clover  is  less  dependent  on  a  sur- 
plus of  available  nitrogen,  and  should  it  refuse  to 
grow  thriftily,  we  may  make  up  our  mind  that  the 
soil  is  deficient  in  potash.  The  same  conclusion 
would  be  justified,  should  potatoes  grow  plenty  of 
top  and  little  tuber.  Still  with  this  crop  full  success 
depends  on  so  many  other  conditions,  that  we  might 
well  call  it  fickle,  and  hesitate  to  base  too  much 
confidence  upon  its  behavior.  The  failure  of  wheat 
and  corn  to  produce  grain  on  well  developed  straw^ 
or  stalks  would  lead  us  to  suspect  scarcity  of  phos- 
phoric acid  as  the  chief  cause.  Observation  and 
good  judgment  in  all  these  things  have  to  come  to 
our  aid  in  making  a  correct  soil  diagnosis. 


TWENTY-NINTH  CHAPTER 


SOME    LEADING    PRINCIPLES. 


A  LTOGETHER  it  must  be  considered  poor  policy 
to  grow  any  kind  of  crop  without  proper  feed- 
ing. There  are  cases,  however,  where  the  manure 
supply  is  scant,  and  cannot  well  be  replenished. 
What  shall  we  do  with  the  amount  at  our  disposal  ? 
The  same  quantity  of  plant  foods  needed  for  the 
production  of  thirty  bushels  of  wheat  would  be 
sufficient  for  that  of  165  bushels  of  potatoes,  or 
forty- five  bushels  of  corn,  600  bushels  of  apples,  or 
other  fruit  crops  in  proportion,  or  several  hundred 
bushels  of  beets  or  carrots,  or  other  vegetables  in 
proportion. 

Thus  a  certain  amount  of  plant  food  in  the  form 
of  wheat,  will  give  us,  say  twenty-five  dollars;  in 
the  form  of  apples  perhaps  $150;  in  the  form  of 
peaches,  or  strawberries  perhaps  $300.  This  shows 
plainly  how  foolish  it  would  be  to  stint  orchard  and 
small  fruit  patches  in  order  to  be  able  to  put  the 
manure  on  the  wheat  field.  And  if  we  have  no  man- 
ure, or  not  enough,  it  will  often  pay  us  well  to  pur- 
chase it  for  use  in  orchard  or  strawberry  field,  when 


162        '  PRACTICAL   FARM  CHEMISTRY. 

it  would  be  a  matter  of  grave  doubt,  whether  we 
could  afford  to  buy  it  for  making  wheat  of  it 

Thus  in  many  cases  it  is  with  potatoes.  We  might 
see  our  way  clear  to  purchase  manure  for  potato 
growing,  and  make  it  pay,  while  we  could  not  use  it 
for  wheat  production  without  loss.  Plant  foods 
seldom  have  a  greater  commercial  value  than  in  the 
form  of  market  garden  crops.  In  this  form  they 
can  be  expected  to  give  us  the  highest  returns. 
Only  the  florist,  the  nurseryman,  and  the  seed 
grower  know  how  to  transform  plant  foods  into 
articles  of  still  greater  commercial  value.  No  prin- 
ciple is  of  greater  importance  than  this  that  our 
raw  materials  of  plant  food  should  always  be  used 
for  the  manufacture  of  those  among  the  crops  we 
grow  which  will  bring  us  the  most  money. 

Another  fundamental  principle  has  already  been 
explained.  It  is  this,  that  the  use  of  complete  fer- 
tilizers involves  a  waste  in  all  cases  where  the  soil 
already  contains  an  abundance  of  one  or  two  of  the 
chief  elements  of  plant  food,  and  requires  only  the 
supplementary  addition  of  the  missing  one  or  two 
elements  to  give  us  all  the  results  we  could  expect 
from  the  complete  fertilizer. 

Another  fundamental  principle  requires  the  use 
of  plant  foods  in  most  readily  available  condition 
for  crops  that  develop  and  mature  in  a  short  period. 
This  applies  especially  to  nitrogen  and  phosphoric 
acid.  Spinach,  radishes,  lettuce,  and  similar  crops 
that  come  to  perfection  in  a  few  weeks,  need  soluble 
food.  Trees  and  shrubs  can  in  time  utilize  plant 
foods  that  are  not  immediately  available.  Winter 
wheat  sometimes  produces  as  good  a  yield  on  floats 
as  on  superphosphate,  etc. 

Of  not  less  importance  is  the  observation  that  a 


LEADING   PRINCIPLES.  163 

slight  excess  of  phosphoric  acid  tends  to  hasten  the 
maturity  of  any  crop.  For  this  reason  it  is  always 
prudent  to  apply  some  superphosphate  to  crops  re- 
quiring a  long  season,  such  as  tomatoes,  melons, 
corn,  etc. 

As  the  fifth  and  last  principle,  I  will  state  that 
barnyard  manure,  although  perhaps  just  what  is 
wanted  otherwise,  may  be  objectionable  for  certain 
crops,  such  as  strawberries,  onions,  etc.,  on  account 
of  the  weed  seed  it  contains.  If  very  foul,  it  should 
not  be  used  for  these  crops. 


'TJUIVBRS177; 


THE  END. 


IVIOST  FARJVIERS 

If  they  knew  how  little  trouble  it  is  would  prefer  to  buy 

Pure  Agricultural  Chemicals  and 
Fertilizing  Materials, 

And  make  their  Fertilizers 


Bone  Meal, 

Dissolved  Bone, 

Bone  Black, 

Dissolved  S.  C.  Bone, 

Ground  S.  C.  Bone, 

Dried  Blood, 

Tankage, 

Eainit, 

Sulph.  Potash, 

Muriate  Potash, 

Nitrate  Soda, 

Sulph.  Ammonia, 

Sulph.  Magnesia, 

Azotin, 

Ground  Fish, 

Plaster, 

Blag  Meal, 

Sulphuric  Acid, 

Cotton  Seed  Meal, 

Cotton  Seed  Hull  Ashes. 

Sulphate  Soda. 


We  believe  that  it  is  generally  conceded 
that  we  keep  as  large  an  assortment  of  pure 
Fertilizing  Materials  as  any  one  firm  in 
the  U.  S.  if  not  in  the  world.  We  have  a 
factory  completely  arranged  for  making 
special  fertilizers  for  crops  and  soils  as  their 
natures  require,  and  we  charge  our  custo- 
mers nothing  extra  for  making  their  fer- 
tilizers exactly  as  they  want  them,  in  fact 
we  guarantee  to  make  fertilizers  and  supply 
the  plant  foods  of  Ammonia,  Potash  and 
Phosphoric  Acid,  at  exactly  Agricultural 
Experiment  Stations'  valuations. 

POWELL'S 
FERTILIZERS 

For  different  crops  we  believe  give  general 
satisfaction. 

OUR  PAMPHLET.— The  A,  B,  C  of  Agri- 
culture tells  how  plants  grow,  what  they  re- 
quire and  how  to  use  Fertilizers  for  profit. 
It  will  be  be  sent  to  any  farmer  on  receipt  of 
three  two-cent  stamps  to  pay  postage. 

FUNGICIDES— Such  as  Bordeaux  Mixture, 
Ammoniacal  Solution  Copper,  Prepared 
Lime,  Blue  Stone,  Precip.  Carb.  Copper, 
manufactured  in  accordance  U.  S.  Depart- 
ment of  Agriculture  recommendations. 

W.  S.  POWELL  i&  CO., 

Chemical  Fertilizer  Manufacturers, 

202  to  219  BOWLY  WHARF, 

BALTIMOBE,  MD. 


WITH    THE    MAPES    MANURES, 


WILMER  ATKINSON  (Farm  Journal)  ON  THE  POTATO  CROPS 
(1890)  GROWN  WITH  THE  MAPES  POTATO  MANURE. 
We  have  to  record  some  astonishing  results  in  growing-  large  crops  of 
potatoes  with  Mapes  Potato  Manure  the  past  season.  Mr.  R.  A.  ChishoJm, 
Del  Norte,  Colorado,  by  the  aid  of  Mapes  Manure,  now  so  favorably  known 
to  Farm  Journal  readers,  won  the  American  Agriculturist  second  prize  for 
the  season  of  1890.  One  thousand  pounds  per  acre  was  used,  and  847J^  bush- 
els per  acre  were  grown.  The  two  largest  crops  grown  with  barnyard  ma- 
nure were  434  and  375  bushels.  The  second  largest  crop  ever  grown  with 
fertilizers  from  one  planting  on  one  acre,  was  produced  in  Aroostook 
County,  last  year,  by  Philo  H.  Reed  being  745  bushels  and  25  lbs  ,  and  this 
also  by  the  aid  of  Mapes  Potato  Manure.  The  great  crop  (1,031  bushels  on 
one  acre),  grown  in  1889,  by  Alfred  Rose,  Penn  Yan,  N.  Y.,  came  from  two 
plantings,  each  growing  side  by  side.  The  crop  which  secured  the  first 
American  Agriculturist  prize  for  1890,  was  won  by  W.  J.  Sturges,  of  Wyom- 
ing, who  produced  947  bushels  and  48  lbs.  per  acre,  with  irrigation  without 
manure,  which  shows  what  virgin  soil,  rich  in  potash,  will  do.  The  sixth 
prize  in  the  American  Agriculturist  contest  the  year  before,  was  won  by  Mr. 
Nesbit,  of  Colorado,  whose  farm  adjoins  Mr.  Chisholm's,  who  used  a  heavy 
application  of  stable  manure  only,  his  yield  being  491  bushels,  or  356  bushels 
less  per  acre  than  Chisholm's  crop  grown  with  the  Mapes  Manure. 

In  growing  Mr.  Chisholm's  crop  the  land  was  marked  out  and  drilled 
three  inches  deep  in  furrows,  33i^  inches  apart  with  the  Aspinwall  Potato 
Planter.  The  seed  was  dropped  by  hand  ten  inches  apart  in  the  furrows  on 
May  16th,  making  18,360  hills  on  the  acre.  Then  500  lbs.  of  Mapes  Potato 
Manure  was  strewn  by  hand  through  the  furrows,  and,  of  course,  directly 
upon  the  seed.  Now  the  seed  was  covered  two  inches  deep  with  the  Aspin- 
wall Potato  Planter.  Another  lot  of  500  lbs.  of  Mapes  Potato  Manure  was 
sown  evenly  by  hand  directly  over  or  along  the  furrows.  The  two  years' 
Agriculturist  contests  have  clearly  demonstrated  the  superiority  of  fertili- 
zers or  chemical  manures  over  stable  manure  for  potatoes. 


(From  the  American  Agriculturist,  May  18th,  1888.) 
Crops  of  Corn,  100  Bushels  and  Over. 
Crops  of  one  hundred  bushels  of  shelled  corn  are  rare,  but  they  are  not 
an  impossibility.  We  have  seen,  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  E.  S.  Carman,  on  Long 
Island,  a  crop  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  (134)  bushels  of  shelled  corn 
raised  on  one  acre  of  land.  The  variety  grown  was  Blount's  Prolific,  the 
soil  a  light  sandy  loam,  the  fertilizer  used  was  the  Mapes  Corn  Manure, 
applied  three  or  four  times  during  the  season— altogether  not  over  one- 
quarter  of  a  ton— and  the  cultivation  consisted  of  running  a  cultivator  be- 
tween the  rows  after  every  rain,  and  after  the  application  of  the  fertilizer. 
The  labor  and  expense  bestowed  upon  this  acre  was  not  more  than  any  in- 
telligent farmer  gives  to  his  crop.  If  he  expects  a  big  yield.  On  the  same 
farm  four  acres  of  Chester  County  Corn  yielded  eight  hundred  and  fifty-six 
(856)  bushels  of  corn  ears,  the  best  acre  159.37  bushels  shelled  corn,  the  poor- 
est 63.74,  average,  118.69  (shelled)  actual  measurement.— Editors. 

A  Full  Descriptive  Pamphlet  of  the  Mapes  Manures  Mailed  Free. 

Tbe  Mapes  Formula  and  Pernvian  Gnano  Co., 

143  Liberty  St.,  NEW  YORK, 


HELLER,  HIRSH  &  CO., 

164    Kront    Street,     =     Ne^W    YORK. 

BRANCH   OFFICES: 

10  Pacific  Ave.,  Chicago,  111.  I  Brown  Wharf,  Charleston,  S.  C. 

411  E.  Lombard  St.,  Baltimore,  Md.  |  2  N.  Groeninger  St.,  Hamburg,  Ge^. 

Agents  of  the  Sales- Syndicate  of  the  German  Potash  Works, 

FOB  THE  SALE  OF 

SULPHATE   OF    POTASH,    SYLVINIT,  IKAINIT. 

Dealers  in  Muriate  of  Potash,  and  all  other  Fertilizing  Materials. 


Canada  Hardwood  Ashes 

NATURE'S  GREATEST  FERTILIZER. 

Furnishing  Potash  in  the  most  available  form. 

Gatliered  with  ly  own  len  aii4  teais  from  Farmers'  stores. 

PAMPHLET  AND  ALL  INFORMATION  ON  APPLICATION. 

F.  R.  TAYLOR,  Dunville.  Ont. 


THE   2srE!"W 

Onion  Culture 


A  STORY  FOR  YOUNG  AND  OLD  WHICH  TELLS 
HOW  TO  GROW 

2,000  BUSHELS  OF  FINE  BULBS 

— ON— 

ONE  ACRE. 


The  new  system  explained  in  all  its  details.  Illus- 
trated, with  suggestions  on  the  old  way  of  growing 
Onions,  on  growing  Pickling  Onions,  Sets,  etc. 

By    T.    QREINER, 

Author  ^^How  to  Make  the  Garden  Pay,^^  '^Practical 
Farm  Chemistry, ^^  etc. 


In  this  work  you  will  find  a  complete  guide  to 
Onion  Culture  in  all  its  phases.  It  points  out- ways 
how  you  can  double  your  crop  and  double  your 
profits  without  extra  expense.  Remit  price,  50 
cents,  per  Postal  Note  or  Express  Money  Order,  to 
the  author  and  publisher, 

T.  GREINER,  LaSalle,  N.  Y. 


THE  LEADING  WORK  ON  GARDENING. 


How  To  Make  The 
Garden  Pay. 

By  T.  GREINER. 

Profusely  Illustrated.    JPrinted  in  clear  type.    Hand- 
somely  bound  in  cloth.    Price,  $2.00. 


This  work  of  272  large  pages  is  now  considered 
standard  authority  on  gardening. 


If  you  want  to  know  how  to  have  a  good  home 
garden — how  to  lay  out,  manure,  prepare  and  plant 
the  ground — read  this  book. 

If  you  want  to  know  how  to  run  a  good  market 
garden — what  to  grow  and  how  to  grow  it;  how  to 
prepare  the  produce  for  market,  and  sell  it  at  best 
price — read  this  book. 

In  short,  if  you  want  to  know  how  to  make  the 
garden  pay — in  pleasure,  comfort,  health  and  money 
— read  this  book. 

If  you  desire  to  make  a  right  royal  present,  and 
one  of  the  greatest  practical  usefulness,  to  your  boy, 
or  to  a  friend,  a  copy  of  "  How  to  Make  the  Garden 
Pay,"  is  just  the  thing  you  want. 

To  secure  a  copy  free  by  mail,  forward  the  price,. 
$2.00,  to  the  author 

T.  GREINER,  La  Salle,  N.  Y. 


'NIVERSITY  OF  CA]JJ 


OUNIA   LIBRARY 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 


^     JUl-  10  Wl- 


30»«-6,'14 


YB  51407 


3  S's  / 


